Local Muti-screen theaters bites the dust.
Many years ago I went on a regular basis to Carmike Cinema Theaters at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville West Virginia. Since I lived close by it was just the thing to do. But I always missed the old theaters down town. There was something about the charm and the smells and it just seemed more like a movie theater to me. Also maybe because I use to live in the west end of Huntington West Virginia and would walk the railroad tracks to town to go to the movies on Saturdays.
But Carmike Movie Theaters started changing. The cost of treats at the snack bar started to go out of sight. So high that you would rarely find anyone in the snack bar area before the movies. Then they did something that caused me to boycott them forever. They started showing commercials. Not previews or the short promotion for there snack bar but full national commercials for clothing and cars and such. And not just one or two but 30 minutes of them. If the movie was to start at 9:00pm they would not start the previews or roll the movie till 9:30.
I was really upset at this. No way to press a button and fast forward, no way to get up and leave since you were trapped by people setting around you, no way to block them out. You were held captive and forced to watch them. The Superbowl Ad or was it the Olympics Ad for Apple Macintosh Computers that came to mind with the mindless drones setting and staring at the movie screen. It was the commercial were the girl came running down the isle and threw the sledge hammer at the screen. I kept wishing for this to happen here but never did.
I was so upset over this that I placed a call the Carmike Theaters corporate headquarters in Columbus Ga. and ask to speak with the CEO. I got his secretary who to my surprise put me through to him. I told him that theaters just do not run commercials like this and if you wanted to run commercials then make the movie free. But if I pay for a movie then get rid of the commercials or advertise the real starting time of the movie and I will come at that time.
He said that it was a new trend and that they needed the revenue from the commercials to make a profit. He stated that I should get use to it since all theaters will be doing this in the future. I suggested lowering the price of the popcorn to a reasonable amount and the sales and profit would increase since they are not selling anything at the current prices.
Now keep in mind that I am now telling the CEO how to run his business successfully.
Well the end result was they sent me an entire book of free movie passes. About twenty five I believe. I never used one of them and never went back to the theater again.
So that brings me to today. I checked to see if Carmike was still at the mall. I had heard they went out of business when the new theaters came in Pullman Square in Huntington WV. I found that no theaters are listed on the Huntington Mall site. I also found that on Carmike Theaters Corporate site that Barboursville is still listed as a location but no movies showing.
I say, hummmm, wonder what happened? Well I am no expert but I am a reasonable consumer who has choices. If I can see the problem then I suspect many others can also. I just can not figure out why businesses continue to do what they know will fail. The best thing they could have done was have the stock holders toss out the CEO along with the person who came up with the not so smart ideas that consumers will take just about anything.
Another point that I can make now. It has most likely been seven years since I last went to the Carmike Cinemas. But I continue to go to the movies and I have yet to see commercials like they played at Carmike and the CEOs statement that this was a trend of the future just did not happen. I wonder what he is doing today.
Many years ago I went on a regular basis to Carmike Cinema Theaters at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville West Virginia. Since I lived close by it was just the thing to do. But I always missed the old theaters down town. There was something about the charm and the smells and it just seemed more like a movie theater to me. Also maybe because I use to live in the west end of Huntington West Virginia and would walk the railroad tracks to town to go to the movies on Saturdays.
But Carmike Movie Theaters started changing. The cost of treats at the snack bar started to go out of sight. So high that you would rarely find anyone in the snack bar area before the movies. Then they did something that caused me to boycott them forever. They started showing commercials. Not previews or the short promotion for there snack bar but full national commercials for clothing and cars and such. And not just one or two but 30 minutes of them. If the movie was to start at 9:00pm they would not start the previews or roll the movie till 9:30.
I was really upset at this. No way to press a button and fast forward, no way to get up and leave since you were trapped by people setting around you, no way to block them out. You were held captive and forced to watch them. The Superbowl Ad or was it the Olympics Ad for Apple Macintosh Computers that came to mind with the mindless drones setting and staring at the movie screen. It was the commercial were the girl came running down the isle and threw the sledge hammer at the screen. I kept wishing for this to happen here but never did.
I was so upset over this that I placed a call the Carmike Theaters corporate headquarters in Columbus Ga. and ask to speak with the CEO. I got his secretary who to my surprise put me through to him. I told him that theaters just do not run commercials like this and if you wanted to run commercials then make the movie free. But if I pay for a movie then get rid of the commercials or advertise the real starting time of the movie and I will come at that time.
He said that it was a new trend and that they needed the revenue from the commercials to make a profit. He stated that I should get use to it since all theaters will be doing this in the future. I suggested lowering the price of the popcorn to a reasonable amount and the sales and profit would increase since they are not selling anything at the current prices.
Now keep in mind that I am now telling the CEO how to run his business successfully.
Well the end result was they sent me an entire book of free movie passes. About twenty five I believe. I never used one of them and never went back to the theater again.
So that brings me to today. I checked to see if Carmike was still at the mall. I had heard they went out of business when the new theaters came in Pullman Square in Huntington WV. I found that no theaters are listed on the Huntington Mall site. I also found that on Carmike Theaters Corporate site that Barboursville is still listed as a location but no movies showing.
I say, hummmm, wonder what happened? Well I am no expert but I am a reasonable consumer who has choices. If I can see the problem then I suspect many others can also. I just can not figure out why businesses continue to do what they know will fail. The best thing they could have done was have the stock holders toss out the CEO along with the person who came up with the not so smart ideas that consumers will take just about anything.
Another point that I can make now. It has most likely been seven years since I last went to the Carmike Cinemas. But I continue to go to the movies and I have yet to see commercials like they played at Carmike and the CEOs statement that this was a trend of the future just did not happen. I wonder what he is doing today.
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