If anyone has tried to buy a set of new bowls lately, you will probebly been disapointed, as it seems most bowls shops have little or no stock. This is especially so in the most popular sizes, and colours. Economics tells us that supply and demand dominate our world, so maybe keeping bowls in short supply it making the price's rise substantially. Most new bowls are now £400 plus, so the second hand market is thriving too, with bowls going for silly money, even out of or near due date bowls. I was told by several shops a 20/22 week delay is now expected on new bowls.
So where does this leave us, are we at the mercy of the market, high demand and no stock, hence high prices? Well in truth yes, I think we are, bargains are few and far between, and prices will remain high until bowlers come to a decision that prices are just too high, and stop buying new. I will make one prediction however, that by 2025 we will have the £500 bowl, anyone?
I bought a set of new woods during the summer for myself and was involved in buying a number of other sets for a school's sports association that I do some work for. My own woods, Tigers, are blue and found shopping around gave me a range of prices. At the top end they were £420 on a number of sites. I eventually got them for £390 from a local sports shop, Sixways Sport in Clevedon. There was a delay in getting them as they needed to be part of a shipment coming into the country, these shipments seem to come into the country from 4-6 months apart. I could have got black woods with little delay but the rise in the number of people wanting coloured woods seems to caused a shortage problem especially for popular sizes. The ones bought for the schools were all black and were available with little delay. One of our members recently bought a set of woods for £495 so touching £500 already. I hasten to add these were a "fancy" set!