Casualties of Technology
By Mitch Berg
As people stay home and watch DVDs on big-honkin’-screen TVs, the low-budget second-run movie house is gradually going the way of the eight-track.
The latest to spiral down the drain – the Rosevillie 4.
And that hurts:
Tuesday night movies at Roseville 4 Theatre — where the usual $2 admission is cut in half — will be gone soon because the theater is closing to accommodate the planned expansion of the adjacent Rainbow Foods grocery store.
Its exit — expected as early as March 31 — will leave one bargain theater in the east metro as the standard price of seeing a movie tops $8.
Owners of the Roseville 4 couldn’t find a new location that offered enough space at lease rates they could afford, said theater manager Barb Guetschoff. “I have a lot of customers who are really angry,” she said.
I’d be one of ’em. The Roseville was always the kind of place where a guy could afford to take the kids, and maybe a few of their friends, to see a movie for under $20, with the concessions – or sneak away for a cheap, low-impact evening out.
Blah.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Noooooooo! The Rosevill 4 is (was) one of my favorite movie haunts. A great place to see good, fairly recent flicks real cheap.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
The Plaza still lives.
http://www.plazamaplewood.com/
Same low prices, high floor stickiness, and strange lingering smells as Roseville. You’re always glad they never turn the lights on, even after the movie is over.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:00 pm
There’s still the Brookdale 8 too, although that seems to be changing increasingly into a purveyor of Bollywood.
That AMC theater that opened up at Rosedale has 15 screens. With the Roseville 4 leaving, that means that over 20 screens that used to be in Roseville are no longer there. And if you want to know why, consider this -if you don’t mind sitting in the bleeders, it’s cheaper to take a family of four to a Twins game than it is to see a movie.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I could literally name 50 films I saw at the Roseville 4. Oh well. As Saint Paul says we’ll always have the Plaza!
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 am
“…we’ll always have the Plaza!”
Actually, BradC … probably not. Most of the folks that work there are volunteers. My wife and I spoke to the owner once – he also owns the one in Woodbury, behind Target, IIRC – and it sounded like he’s having a hard time of things, financially.
There’s always hope, though. My kids love that place. I’d hate to see it go.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 am
The Brookdale 8 is indeed alive and running about half Hollywood, half Bollywood. You can even get samosas at the concession stand.
I understand, from friends who come from India, that there are actually three theaters in the metro area which show at least some films from India. It’s getting to be a very interesting world.