GREENSBORO, N.C. — More Triad businesses are closing temporarily, because of the pandemic.
Red Cinemas in Greensboro is the latest to shut its doors.
A theatre full of upgrades to keep movie goers safe was no competition for the pandemic.
Bart Ortiz, the theatres restaurant president said it comes with a hefty price tag.
“It’s a lot it was 10’s of thousands of dollars to get all of that equipment purchased and installed and ready to go,” Ortiz said.
Contactless ticket purchasing, touchless hand sanitation, air filtration, social distancing signage and plexiglass was an investment Ortiz said was made to draw folks in.
Things didn’t play out as planned, sales are down 93% this year compared to last year.
“A lot of the blockbuster releases are getting pushed back,” Ortiz said. “The number of films we can show in theatres are limited right now.”
Streaming services getting films the same day as theatre releases put pressure on ticket sales.
A lack of comfortability because of the pandemic is also a factor.
Ortiz said they had showings no one would show up for, or times they’d only get 5 ticket sales a night.
“Even with the new capacity it didn’t hit the new maximum of 30 %,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz and his business partner were forced layoff their 12 employees.
“We have offered positions in some of the other businesses we have to our staff obviously we want to keep them employed,” Ortiz said. “We’re going to make sure this is a soft landing.”
Ortiz is looking forward to opening their doors again when more films get released.