This place is a dump. I went to see JCVD at Piper’s Alley on November 15th as it was the only theatre in Chicago playing it. When I went to buy food at concessions nobody was there. I waited at least five minutes before a manager noticed me and I finally got my soda. The theatre itself was horrible. There were tiles partially or completely missing from the ceiling. The tiles that were there looked very water damaged. The seats were torn and looked filthy. It seems like they have not been cleaned in years. Finally I believe the heat was not working as it was freezing in the theatre. The only good thing is that the movie was on screen and in focus.
This is really a shame. This is where my love of movies started as my parents took me to see many movies here. I remember that if a movie was really big enough it would open on two screens, very rate for a small second run theatre. Cyberyan when you looked inside are you saying that there was nothing left? The concession stand was gone? Where the theatres / screens / seats still there, or were the walls seperating the theatres taken down and it is now just one big space?
I worked as a manger at 14 screen theatre for a major chain. Our schedule was always done by hand. As stated above the first thing to do is to decide which theatere to put your movies in. Then we used what was called a 5 min schedule and worked out out prime show first (I.E. showings starting at between 7-8) and then build the other showtimes around it. We tried not to start more than two movies at the same time or have too many getting at the same time. Also, depending on which chain you work for there may be certain programing guidlines (For example we couldn’t start new movies between 6-7 unless it was one more than one screen or had a really long run time, however we could start
older movies during that time,etc.) Also, for advertising reasons we had to have a certain amount of time between showing for adds to run. I guess if your and independent cinema you have a lot more flexibility, but if you work for a chain they will probably have lots of guidlines.
I was an employee/supervisor/manager here from 2002-2007. The Cineplex Odeon logo is still on the front and back marquees. It was one of the best cinemas that Loews had. This was due mainly to the fact that the General Manager was meticoulous and took great pride in running a top notch theatre. Unfortunately since AMC took over managers are rotated in and out, and after 10 years of dedicated service the GM was sent to another location. Since the GM’s departure the overall quality of this location has declined.
I emailed ICE a few days ago and received a response from the President of the company. She said that both theatres have underperformed since they opened. The Lawndale location is currently for sale, and the Western location has been under contract for some time and the theatre will be demolished and a larger shopping center will be built in its place. The Chatam location is financialy strong and there are no intentions to close it.
Ice closed two of their three theatres in Chicago. They closed the one in Lawndale and the one on 62nd & Western. The Chatam 14 is still open. I am a former employee of the Quarry theatre in Hodgkins, IL. The theatre is almost identical to those that were operated by ICE in Chicago since they were all originally built by Cineplex Odeon. The Quarry is still in great condition, and since all of the theatres were built at roughly the same time the ones operated by ICE should be in good condition too as long as management did proper upkeep on the their locations. Their wasn’t anything written about the closings in the Chicago newspapers that I could find. The only notice was that in the add space in the newspapers where the showtimes for those theatres were was now a notice saying theatre closed please visit our Chatam location. Does anyone know why these theatres were closed?
A concession cart is a great idea. We used it at the theatre that I worked at. We sold popcorn,soda, & candy. We would bring the cart to one of our busier movies about 15 minutes prior to showtime. Customers who may not have wanted to wait in the concession lines could now by snacks without leaving the theatre, and there were those who made impulse purchases. It will not only increase your profits, but it will make your customers happy.
I am a former theatre manager and I would say there are several factors that cause slow concession lines. Proper staffing is important. If you expect to be busy make sure you have scheduled accordingly. People not being able to make up their mind is a factor, but there is little you can do about that. A huge factor is having you stand prepped. Pre-bag your popcorn and keep the bags in a warmer. Make sure whatever size popcorn you sell the most of has the most premade bags. Also, make sure the items you sell are in a close proximity to your registers. Your cashier should not have move very far to get popcorn, candy, soda, etc. Finally on the issue of soda don’t turn it around and let customers fill the cups themselves. It will cause congestion, be very messy, and lead to waste and higher costs. If you have the soda towers with censors I suggest that you have your cashier fill the soda while they are retrieving the rest of the customers order. That way after they have gotten the popcorn and candy all they have to do is put a lid on the soda. If you have any other questions I would be happy to share my knowledge of the business.
I am a former theatre manager and I would say there are several factors that cause slow concession lines. Proper staffing is important. If you expect to be busy make sure you have scheduled accordingly. People not being able to make up their mind is a factor, but there is little you can do about that. A huge factor is having you stand prepped. Pre-bag your popcorn and keep the bags in a warmer. Make sure whatever size popcorn you sell the most of has the most premade bags. Also, make sure the items you sell are in a close proximity to your registers. Your cashier should not have move very far to get popcorn, candy, soda, etc. Finally on the issue of soda don’t turn it around and let customers fill the cups themselves. It will cause congestion, be very messy, and lead to waste and higher costs. If you have the soda towers with censors I suggest that you have your cashier fill the soda while they are retrieving the rest of the customers order. That way after they have gotten the popcorn and candy all they have to do is put a lid on the soda. If you have any other questions I would be happy to share my knowledge of the business.
Ridge Plaza? Did you mean The Commons of Chicago Ridge? The theatre as located in a shopping center across from the Chicago Ridge Mall. It was only 4 screens, but was kept up very well and a great place to see a movie. I miss the 80’s style cinemas. I work out at the XSport that has taken its place. The 6 screen theatre in the mall is still in operation.
It is truly a shame that this theatre is being closed, but I guess whoever owns the building figured they could make more money by turning it into a shopping center. I only visited this theatre once. It was in November of 1999 to see “The Suburbans”. As much as I enjoy the comfort creatures of the multiplex, there is nothing better seeing a movie in a smaller old school theatre. Hopefully somebody will re-open the McClurg Court and turn it into an art-house theatre.
CinemarkFan….have you contacted the person in charge of selling the theatre ? Have you taken a tour inside to see how much work needs to be done ? When do you think you can have it open by? I really hope you reopen this theatre.
I walked past the McClurg Court Cinemas today and it has not been converted into a health club.The front marquee is still up.(Though it is covered by a for lease banner.) I looked through the glass windows and I could see the entrance to theatre 2. I could also see down the stairs that go to theatre 1. Poster cases are still on the walls and the carpeting is the same as it was when I last visited. It’s as if nothing has been touched since the theatre was closed two years ago.
This place is a dump. I went to see JCVD at Piper’s Alley on November 15th as it was the only theatre in Chicago playing it. When I went to buy food at concessions nobody was there. I waited at least five minutes before a manager noticed me and I finally got my soda. The theatre itself was horrible. There were tiles partially or completely missing from the ceiling. The tiles that were there looked very water damaged. The seats were torn and looked filthy. It seems like they have not been cleaned in years. Finally I believe the heat was not working as it was freezing in the theatre. The only good thing is that the movie was on screen and in focus.
This is really a shame. This is where my love of movies started as my parents took me to see many movies here. I remember that if a movie was really big enough it would open on two screens, very rate for a small second run theatre. Cyberyan when you looked inside are you saying that there was nothing left? The concession stand was gone? Where the theatres / screens / seats still there, or were the walls seperating the theatres taken down and it is now just one big space?
I worked as a manger at 14 screen theatre for a major chain. Our schedule was always done by hand. As stated above the first thing to do is to decide which theatere to put your movies in. Then we used what was called a 5 min schedule and worked out out prime show first (I.E. showings starting at between 7-8) and then build the other showtimes around it. We tried not to start more than two movies at the same time or have too many getting at the same time. Also, depending on which chain you work for there may be certain programing guidlines (For example we couldn’t start new movies between 6-7 unless it was one more than one screen or had a really long run time, however we could start
older movies during that time,etc.) Also, for advertising reasons we had to have a certain amount of time between showing for adds to run. I guess if your and independent cinema you have a lot more flexibility, but if you work for a chain they will probably have lots of guidlines.
I was an employee/supervisor/manager here from 2002-2007. The Cineplex Odeon logo is still on the front and back marquees. It was one of the best cinemas that Loews had. This was due mainly to the fact that the General Manager was meticoulous and took great pride in running a top notch theatre. Unfortunately since AMC took over managers are rotated in and out, and after 10 years of dedicated service the GM was sent to another location. Since the GM’s departure the overall quality of this location has declined.
I emailed ICE a few days ago and received a response from the President of the company. She said that both theatres have underperformed since they opened. The Lawndale location is currently for sale, and the Western location has been under contract for some time and the theatre will be demolished and a larger shopping center will be built in its place. The Chatam location is financialy strong and there are no intentions to close it.
Ice closed two of their three theatres in Chicago. They closed the one in Lawndale and the one on 62nd & Western. The Chatam 14 is still open. I am a former employee of the Quarry theatre in Hodgkins, IL. The theatre is almost identical to those that were operated by ICE in Chicago since they were all originally built by Cineplex Odeon. The Quarry is still in great condition, and since all of the theatres were built at roughly the same time the ones operated by ICE should be in good condition too as long as management did proper upkeep on the their locations. Their wasn’t anything written about the closings in the Chicago newspapers that I could find. The only notice was that in the add space in the newspapers where the showtimes for those theatres were was now a notice saying theatre closed please visit our Chatam location. Does anyone know why these theatres were closed?
A concession cart is a great idea. We used it at the theatre that I worked at. We sold popcorn,soda, & candy. We would bring the cart to one of our busier movies about 15 minutes prior to showtime. Customers who may not have wanted to wait in the concession lines could now by snacks without leaving the theatre, and there were those who made impulse purchases. It will not only increase your profits, but it will make your customers happy.
I am a former theatre manager and I would say there are several factors that cause slow concession lines. Proper staffing is important. If you expect to be busy make sure you have scheduled accordingly. People not being able to make up their mind is a factor, but there is little you can do about that. A huge factor is having you stand prepped. Pre-bag your popcorn and keep the bags in a warmer. Make sure whatever size popcorn you sell the most of has the most premade bags. Also, make sure the items you sell are in a close proximity to your registers. Your cashier should not have move very far to get popcorn, candy, soda, etc. Finally on the issue of soda don’t turn it around and let customers fill the cups themselves. It will cause congestion, be very messy, and lead to waste and higher costs. If you have the soda towers with censors I suggest that you have your cashier fill the soda while they are retrieving the rest of the customers order. That way after they have gotten the popcorn and candy all they have to do is put a lid on the soda. If you have any other questions I would be happy to share my knowledge of the business.
I am a former theatre manager and I would say there are several factors that cause slow concession lines. Proper staffing is important. If you expect to be busy make sure you have scheduled accordingly. People not being able to make up their mind is a factor, but there is little you can do about that. A huge factor is having you stand prepped. Pre-bag your popcorn and keep the bags in a warmer. Make sure whatever size popcorn you sell the most of has the most premade bags. Also, make sure the items you sell are in a close proximity to your registers. Your cashier should not have move very far to get popcorn, candy, soda, etc. Finally on the issue of soda don’t turn it around and let customers fill the cups themselves. It will cause congestion, be very messy, and lead to waste and higher costs. If you have the soda towers with censors I suggest that you have your cashier fill the soda while they are retrieving the rest of the customers order. That way after they have gotten the popcorn and candy all they have to do is put a lid on the soda. If you have any other questions I would be happy to share my knowledge of the business.
Ridge Plaza? Did you mean The Commons of Chicago Ridge? The theatre as located in a shopping center across from the Chicago Ridge Mall. It was only 4 screens, but was kept up very well and a great place to see a movie. I miss the 80’s style cinemas. I work out at the XSport that has taken its place. The 6 screen theatre in the mall is still in operation.
It is truly a shame that this theatre is being closed, but I guess whoever owns the building figured they could make more money by turning it into a shopping center. I only visited this theatre once. It was in November of 1999 to see “The Suburbans”. As much as I enjoy the comfort creatures of the multiplex, there is nothing better seeing a movie in a smaller old school theatre. Hopefully somebody will re-open the McClurg Court and turn it into an art-house theatre.
CinemarkFan….have you contacted the person in charge of selling the theatre ? Have you taken a tour inside to see how much work needs to be done ? When do you think you can have it open by? I really hope you reopen this theatre.
I walked past the McClurg Court Cinemas today and it has not been converted into a health club.The front marquee is still up.(Though it is covered by a for lease banner.) I looked through the glass windows and I could see the entrance to theatre 2. I could also see down the stairs that go to theatre 1. Poster cases are still on the walls and the carpeting is the same as it was when I last visited. It’s as if nothing has been touched since the theatre was closed two years ago.