I grew up with this theater. I remember seeing “Star Wars” there numerous times, as well as a couple of different James Bond films, “The Terminator”, and countless others. It became the place to go for most local kids that moved into the area as it developed, on weekends and birthdays especially, until the Merchant’s Walk development sprouted up.
I remember that the interior of the mall was a 2-level structure, or was on one side at least, and for a short time, there was a restaurant/bar on the upper level, and not much else…don’t remember the name. I recall having a cheeseburger there one time, and thinking it was pretty good. A drugstore (Wender & Roberts?) and Hallmark card shop were focal points, as were a small video arcade and ice cream shop at various times. Seems there were always more vacancies than permanent businesses, however, which probably had something to do with why it was redeveloped. The mall also joined to the Kroger grocery store on the west end, which was the primary business in the area, at least early on, and is still there today (though long ago repositioned upon redevelopment).
The layout of that development was strange. There were several satellite buildings down on one end, past the Kroger store. Various businesses populated them at various times, including a dance studio, an auto service shop (which I think might still be there in some form…Goodyear?), and a small, dimly-lit pizza joint that didn’t last very long. They were arranged such that unless you knew what you were looking for and where to look for it, you would probably never know that most of those places were there. It was definitely not geared toward presentation, in terms of sight lines.
It always seemed to me that the cinema was on the wrong end. It seemed tucked away and hidden from sight from the main roads, and I often wondered how it did any business beyond us locals who knew where it was…I guess it didn’t, after all. Oddly enough, after the mall was torn down and redeveloped into a strip, they did the same thing with the ice rink, and moved it back behind the main development where you can’t even see it from the road. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked by people unfamiliar to the area how to get to that place.
Thanks for the background, Stan. Interesting stuff.
I grew up with this theater. I remember seeing “Star Wars” there numerous times, as well as a couple of different James Bond films, “The Terminator”, and countless others. It became the place to go for most local kids that moved into the area as it developed, on weekends and birthdays especially, until the Merchant’s Walk development sprouted up.
I remember that the interior of the mall was a 2-level structure, or was on one side at least, and for a short time, there was a restaurant/bar on the upper level, and not much else…don’t remember the name. I recall having a cheeseburger there one time, and thinking it was pretty good. A drugstore (Wender & Roberts?) and Hallmark card shop were focal points, as were a small video arcade and ice cream shop at various times. Seems there were always more vacancies than permanent businesses, however, which probably had something to do with why it was redeveloped. The mall also joined to the Kroger grocery store on the west end, which was the primary business in the area, at least early on, and is still there today (though long ago repositioned upon redevelopment).
The layout of that development was strange. There were several satellite buildings down on one end, past the Kroger store. Various businesses populated them at various times, including a dance studio, an auto service shop (which I think might still be there in some form…Goodyear?), and a small, dimly-lit pizza joint that didn’t last very long. They were arranged such that unless you knew what you were looking for and where to look for it, you would probably never know that most of those places were there. It was definitely not geared toward presentation, in terms of sight lines.
It always seemed to me that the cinema was on the wrong end. It seemed tucked away and hidden from sight from the main roads, and I often wondered how it did any business beyond us locals who knew where it was…I guess it didn’t, after all. Oddly enough, after the mall was torn down and redeveloped into a strip, they did the same thing with the ice rink, and moved it back behind the main development where you can’t even see it from the road. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked by people unfamiliar to the area how to get to that place.
Thanks for the background, Stan. Interesting stuff.