I worked at the Marketplace in the summer of 1985. I was one of the first employees. At the time, this was the best theater in Winston-Salem. Mike, you forgot to mention that the Canadian firm Cineplex Odeon purchased the theater during it’s expansion in the late ‘80s, while Garth Drabinsky was CEO (in the late 90s he got into legal trouble for all sorts of accounting fraud). He had this vision of enhancing the movie theater experience with cafes, as opposed to simple concession stands. We used real butter on the popcorn. The Marketplace was not one of the palaces he was building in larger cities, but it was the most upscale theater in W-S at the time.
Garth proved to be ahead of his time. I live in LA now and theaters like the Arclight and The Bridge Cinema De-luxe are the sort of high end theaters Garth was creating. Unfortunately, America was not ready for it and Cineplex Odeon ultimately went bust in the states.
The Marketplace still holds alot of great memories for me. It was the best high school job I could have had. I worked in the projection room, where I was able to do my homework as the movies played. So, I was paid to do my homework. Also, I still have a nice collection of one-sheets from all sorts of bad 80s flicks.
I worked at the Marketplace in the summer of 1985. I was one of the first employees. At the time, this was the best theater in Winston-Salem. Mike, you forgot to mention that the Canadian firm Cineplex Odeon purchased the theater during it’s expansion in the late ‘80s, while Garth Drabinsky was CEO (in the late 90s he got into legal trouble for all sorts of accounting fraud). He had this vision of enhancing the movie theater experience with cafes, as opposed to simple concession stands. We used real butter on the popcorn. The Marketplace was not one of the palaces he was building in larger cities, but it was the most upscale theater in W-S at the time.
Garth proved to be ahead of his time. I live in LA now and theaters like the Arclight and The Bridge Cinema De-luxe are the sort of high end theaters Garth was creating. Unfortunately, America was not ready for it and Cineplex Odeon ultimately went bust in the states.
The Marketplace still holds alot of great memories for me. It was the best high school job I could have had. I worked in the projection room, where I was able to do my homework as the movies played. So, I was paid to do my homework. Also, I still have a nice collection of one-sheets from all sorts of bad 80s flicks.