Town Cinema 6
8640 University City Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28213
8640 University City Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28213
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The Town Cinema 6 was the sister theater to the University Cinema 6. With less than a mile between the two theaters the competition was quite weird. As noted the University was the exclusive art screening theater but the Town Cinemas 6 was aimed more at the local university crowd.
Both the Town Cinema 6 and the University closed on the same day. Unlike the University, the Town Cinema 6, which was operated by Carmike Cinemas, was demolished several years after it closed. The site is now is a construction gate and a “Land for Sale” sign.
Contributed by
UAGirl
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
I show that the address for the Town Cinema 6 was 8640 University City Avenue, Charlotte, NC.
What killed these two houses?
More than likely the multiplex’s like the Abortium 12, Pavillion 22, Phillips 10 and others did the Town Cinema 6 and University 6 Cinemas in.
Charlotte still has 17 multi screen theatres in operation for a population of a little over 500,00 population.
Charles,
The Consolidated Theatres Abortium 12, Phillips Place 10 and AMC Pavillion 22 are located on the other side of Charlotte. Interstate 485 wasn’t open yet so would have taken a great bit of time for someone in the university area to drive down to these theatres. There was a number of factors that darkened these screens. Whenever I originally posted this theatre I didn’t want to slam the former operators of these two theatres but here goes…
Town Cinema and University were poorly planned from the get go. As I previously mentioned they were built within a mile of each other. The plan was that Town would serve the students at UNCC and University would cater to Charlotte’s developing art house community. Infact, the “Screening Room” at University would bring in some really hard to rent prints that Atlanta didn’t even have! Be here’s why things went sour…
University was built in a extremely cramped shopping area. The parking is very limited and is located at the very busy and dangerous interestion of Hwy 29 and WT Harris Blvd. If one screen sold out then there really was no room for anyone to park. Another negative aspect to this theatre is that her box office tellers were on the ends of the concession island in the middle of the lobby. Fridays were horrible. Both sets of lines would merge into each other and it was hard to tell if you were in line for tickets or popcorn. This also made very easy to ahem skip. Given that the theatre had dual entries the theatre became the target of several robberies. As you all can guess robberies will quickly take away from a theatre’s reputation.
Town Cinema catered to the university crowd but then things turned for the worse. Carmike continually jacked up the prices to levels that the average on campus non working student would question. Seriously think about about it.. Tony could spend $6.00 on one ticket or get a rental for a few nights and maybe go down to the Taco H#ll down the street. To make things even worse they discontinued students prices whenever things started going down hill. The last nail in the coffin arrived in the summer of 1997. Eastern Federal Cinemas opened the Starlight 14 Cinemas a quick mile up Hwy 29. A year or so later AMC opened up a 24 screen demonplex in Mall of America’s Concord Mills.
As for renovations, the mere thought was laughable. My friend who co-managed BOTH theatres gave me a tour of the builds and folk is wasn’t pretty. These poor theatres were just a Carolina rain storm away from being a safety issue. Town Cinemas had mold, rats and roaches. University was infested wih roaches and had severe problems with her ceiling and HVAC.
Now let’s talk about the manager’s pay. Given the circumstances you would think that the manager might earn some form of check that could justify the fun times at the theatre. Oh my fellow cinephiles..not so. Carmike didn’t hold her managers in too high of a light. The highest that any GM was paid at University was around $275-$300 per week..before taxes. Even then that was horrible pay.
Whenever you add up low pay + long hours (managing two theatres at one time)+ poor attendance + no renovations you will get theatres that closely resimble Town Cinema 6 and University Cinemas.
That my friends is what killed the sisters.
Actually the Charlotte area theatre count sits at 12 with the semi-recent closings of the Delta 6, Movies at the Lake, and The Palace. I believe some of the theatres you are including are as far south as Rock Hill and as far north as Mooresville. None the less Charlotte remians saturated with screens. Can’t wait for the new AMC 14 plex to open up on WT Harris. oh jooooy!
All in all as I mentioned the area was saturated with screens and still is per population. A theatre with 8 screens or less just cannot make it in todays market. It is sad though that a company would let their theatres get to the deplorable condistions that you mentioned. In my travels I have seen many Carmikes that are older and that the condition has been let go. On a recent visit to the Ritz 15 in Salt Lake the smell of mold was so strong that it almost burned your nose. This theatre is only a few years old so there is no reason for improper maintaining the building.
Carmike Cinemas also operated the Capri Theatres off Independence Blvd.,which was a triplex. It also operated the Matthews Festival 10,which is on the other side of Independence Blvd. going towards Monroe(which is at the intersection of N.C. 51 and U.S. 74),which Carmike acquired from Cineplex Odeon,which was a 10-screen theatre.
Also Town Cinema 6 and University Place was also under Carmike Cinemas.
Town Cinema 6 was originally a Stewart & Everett Theatre. S&E built several theaters based on its design: (Carmike)Cinema 4 in Aberdeen, Havelock Cinema 4/6 (Carmike Cinema 6) in Havelock, Cinema 6 in Wilmington and Cinema 6 in Jacksonville, and possibly others. Only the Havelock Cinema remains in operation; Carmike abandoned Aberdeen (and Charlotte!) and replaced the Wilmington and Jacksonville Cinemas 6 with megaplexes.