In which an old movie theater fails
Or, how you should modernize your business rather than complain about kids today.
So, the Varsity, the last of the Franklin Street movie theaters is shutting down its doors, which leaves me with mixed feelings. Its sort of sad, since I remember when I was at UNC, there were 3 movie theaters on Franklin. I remember watching American Pie for the first time with a bunch of my new friends as a freshman in the trashy $1.50 Theater that was hidden away on Rosemary street, and having the Varsity there to play all the fun indie movies I read about in reviews, and were never available at the multiplexes, which were all far, far away.
That nostalgasm over, the owner of the Varsity sounds very much like the owners of small bookstores, who constantly complain about how their customer base doesn't appreciate their product anymore. And, like the book stores, they have fundementally missed the point. I like bookstores, especially used book stores; they're musty, quiet, filled with all manner of old things, but what I really like, is books. And if you don't have the books I want, I'm not gonna go to your bookstore first, its a simple as that. Why go all the way to my favorite used bookstore in Chapel Hill to get a book I want, when Amazon or Borders is assured to have it. Likewise, I cannot bemoan the Varsity, or the other Franklin Street cinema too much, since, to be frank, you don't need atmosphere in a movie theater. You need the movies you want to see, at a time you want to see them, with quality sound and picture, and nice seating. It doesn't matter that you've been in place for 81 years, if your movie theater has old, ratty seats, no stadium seating, and older picture and sound, of *course* it is going to fail. Its not like you're the only place in town playing "The Hangover".
Those quaint old bookstores, general stores and movie theaters stayed in business because they had the good sense to build in a place without alternatives, and I don't think they should blame their customers for any sort of 'disloyalty', should they have trouble when there is competition from something better.
So, the Varsity, the last of the Franklin Street movie theaters is shutting down its doors, which leaves me with mixed feelings. Its sort of sad, since I remember when I was at UNC, there were 3 movie theaters on Franklin. I remember watching American Pie for the first time with a bunch of my new friends as a freshman in the trashy $1.50 Theater that was hidden away on Rosemary street, and having the Varsity there to play all the fun indie movies I read about in reviews, and were never available at the multiplexes, which were all far, far away.
That nostalgasm over, the owner of the Varsity sounds very much like the owners of small bookstores, who constantly complain about how their customer base doesn't appreciate their product anymore. And, like the book stores, they have fundementally missed the point. I like bookstores, especially used book stores; they're musty, quiet, filled with all manner of old things, but what I really like, is books. And if you don't have the books I want, I'm not gonna go to your bookstore first, its a simple as that. Why go all the way to my favorite used bookstore in Chapel Hill to get a book I want, when Amazon or Borders is assured to have it. Likewise, I cannot bemoan the Varsity, or the other Franklin Street cinema too much, since, to be frank, you don't need atmosphere in a movie theater. You need the movies you want to see, at a time you want to see them, with quality sound and picture, and nice seating. It doesn't matter that you've been in place for 81 years, if your movie theater has old, ratty seats, no stadium seating, and older picture and sound, of *course* it is going to fail. Its not like you're the only place in town playing "The Hangover".
Those quaint old bookstores, general stores and movie theaters stayed in business because they had the good sense to build in a place without alternatives, and I don't think they should blame their customers for any sort of 'disloyalty', should they have trouble when there is competition from something better.