Hi, I'm new here and I wanted to get everyone's feedback on whether or not a location near me is a good place for a movie theatre. Currently, there is a movie theatre near me that shut down. It was running first run movies at $7.50 a pop in 4 movie theatre. From what I hear, the theatre had 3 screens but one of the theatres was split into two to create 4 theatres total.
There are two things that I think the location has going for it. One, the area around it has seen a boom recently and is still undergoing more changes. In early 2009, they added a 525,000 sq. ft. shopping center with 30 - 40 stores, including Target, Lowes, Petco, McDonalds, Gamestop, AT&T, Verizon, Famous Footwear, Michaels, Bed Bath and Beyond, Stop and Shop, and 99 Restaurant, to name more than I probably needed to. In the vicinity of the theatre is a Subway, Walgreens, and Dunkin' Donuts. In the same complex as the theatre are an Aldi's (discount grocery store) and a Family Dollar dollar store. However, I heard that they will be building an Olive Garden in the same complex in the near future, and they are already in the process of building a Kohl's close by.
Second, the closest movie theatre to this town is 19 miles away. The population of the town itself is 16,500, and the rough estimate population of the surrounding towns is close to 85,000 - 90,000.
Given this information and without knowing how much renovation is needed inside, can anyone provide feedback on if it's even worth pursuing? Would it be better to run second-run movies instead of first-run? Since there is a dollar store right around the corner, would it be a good idea to allow outside candy and soda into the theatres but still offer our own as well as other options? Please let me know what I'm missing here, too.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
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