College Mall Cinema
2848 E. Third Street,
Bloomington,
IN
47401
2848 E. Third Street,
Bloomington,
IN
47401
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This theater was built in 1963 by General Cinema as a twin. The two auditoriums were later both split for a total of four screens.
In 1988 theater was sold to Kerasotes along with five other theaters in Illinois and Indiana, and College Mall was required to make the deal. The sale of College Mall gave Kerasotes control of all theaters in Bloomington.
Contributed by
Tim Hewitt
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
This was properly run when it was General Cinema. They were always able to get the movie on the screen and always start on time.
When Kerasotes took over the union contacted them to see about staying on and were told to go to hell so they picked the theatres in town along with others sold at the same time and a few others. When the union left on the last night they tore down all the films and disconnected the sound systems.
The first weekend under Kerasotes they only had one new movie and still had 3 Men and a Baby which had been there 4 months already and still selling out. The night Kerasotes took over the DM and VP said that there would never be projection problems at College Mall because the manager was the best projectionist in the company.
The first day the manager spend the entire day tring to get the movies running and most of the day she had the upside down and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. The first weekend they broke at least one film every set of shows and managed to break every show of the only new film for over a week.
It was so bad that they had to bring the manager of the Von Lee over to run the booth because Sandy was breaking so many film. Everyone in Bloomington learned not to go to Kerasotes College Mall 1-4 when John Fleener was off.
Kerasotes had a habit of not paying employees until the checks were at least a week late.
The end of the mall the theatre was at has been turned into a Dick’s Sporting Goods. The old Target has also been tore down and rebuilt for more retail space and Target took the old JC Penny space.
When Kerasotes took over they brought some employees in from the Von Lee and Indiana but don’t think any came from the Village. The employees were told they had to go to College Mall or they had no job. Kerasotes refused to pay the bus fair and a couple of them lived within walking distance of their home theatre and had to take the bus across town.
When the employees were sent to College Mall the DM told them that if they talked to the union they would be fired. After some of the Kerasotes employee got to know the GC employees they revealed the threat they had been given.
Well, as a movie-goer in Bloomington from 1993-1998, I can confirm that Kerasotes sucked from a consumer standpoint. The mall theater was a dump, slimy floors projection problems, etc. But I have fond memories of seeing Jurassic Park there my second night in town, and of Toy Story a few years later. The Indiana was my favorite place, but of course Kerasotes closed it down, leaving us with the run-down Von Lee. It looks like there are more options now and the Indiana has been restored. The mall cinema is no loss…perhaps someone will restore the Princess someday too?