66 replies to this topic

[ncbrian]

From the Relish:

Quote

The new, 18-screen Grand Theatre will not open on Friday, as previously announced.

  Instead, it will open its doors on Tuesday to Fourth of July crowds.

  The theater will be at 5601 University Parkway, at the intersection with Hanes Mill Road (where a 24-hour Super Kmart used to be). It will be the first new theater to have been built in Winston-Salem in years. The Grand is owned by Southern Theatres LLC.

No reason for the delay but I assume that the interior is not ready for receiving film goers and the owners would prefer that people had a good impression of seeing the theatre when visiting it for the first time as complete and up to standard.

Edited by JerseyBoy, 06 February 2008 - 11:16 PM.

[bthomas]

I made the ads for this a few weeks ago. It sounds like it is going to be pretty nice, with a specialty cafe, wall-to-wall screens and stadium seating. When I came to this town I was amazed at the lack of theatres, or nice ones anyhow.

[ncbrian]

In a news report last night, they had a crew down at the theatre. It looks sharp and well organised much like any other megaplex theatre. They did mention that will be building another complex on the southside of Winston. Not sure of any significant piece of land that can be redeveloped which makes me think they may be going on Peter's Creek Parkway south of the county line. On the other hand, Clemmons keeps pushing for a theatre chain in its part of the county.

[bthomas]

We got advanced tickets for the Grand Opening on the night of the 3rd... it was nearly a disaster....

Doors were supposed to open at 6, didn't open until 7 leaving probably 1,000 people standing outside in the sun baking for an hour.

They showed old movies (King Kong, Fantastic Four, War of the Worlds), and most people thought they were going to show currently-running movies. Had most of the people known that, they wouldn't have shown up -- self included.

There were multiple malfunctions in multiple theatres. We went to see Fantastic Four -- it started half an hour late, the picture was very blurry and shaked for most of the movie. We left half way through because we couldn't stand it any more.

My friend went to see War of the Worlds. His was blurry, shaky and was cut in half for the last 20 minutes of the movie.

My problem isn't that those problems happened, but that they didn't fix it quickly.

I won't be going back. It was possibly the worst experience possible for a theatre.

Edited by bthomas, 05 July 2006 - 08:59 AM.

[ncbrian]

That sounds like a pretty rough experience. You would have thought they would have calibrated all of the projectors with a few dry runs. I would take it that the advance showing was just for invited guests as I did not see any advance announcement for the general public. So in a sense, I guess the crowd that did show up were guinea pigs in a way to give the theatre crew some experience in dealing with a live audience before opening the doors to the general public.

If you go back in a few weeks, I would think the rough edges would be smoothed off and the film viewing experience will be much better. That is why I kind of held off going on its first day and would wait for awhile before catching the first film there.

[twincity]

bthomas, on Jul 5 2006, 08:58 AM, said:

We got advanced tickets for the Grand Opening on the night of the 3rd... it was nearly a disaster....

Doors were supposed to open at 6, didn't open until 7 leaving probably 1,000 people standing outside in the sun baking for an hour.

They showed old movies (King Kong, Fantastic Four, War of the Worlds), and most people thought they were going to show currently-running movies. Had most of the people known that, they wouldn't have shown up -- self included.

There were multiple malfunctions in multiple theatres. We went to see Fantastic Four -- it started half an hour late, the picture was very blurry and shaked for most of the movie. We left half way through because we couldn't stand it any more.

My friend went to see War of the Worlds. His was blurry, shaky and was cut in half for the last 20 minutes of the movie.

My problem isn't that those problems happened, but that they didn't fix it quickly.

I won't be going back. It was possibly the worst experience possible for a theatre.

dont write it off so quickly.  although I would have been pissed too.... keep in mind it WAS the first day.  and some glitches should have been expected.  for some reason, i feel theat they rushed construction in order to open on July 4.  the theatre, obviously needed at least another week or so to work out any minor problems.

glad to hear that they still plan on building a second theater.  if im not mistaken? there's plenty land near the Walmart and Lowes developments? i could be wrong.  a developer was having problems with rezoning for more commercial/retail not too long ago.  is that K-mart still open?  if not, I wouldnt be suprised if southern had their eyes on that building to redevelop instead of new construction.

[JerseyBoy]

twincity, on Jul 5 2006, 12:51 PM, said:

dont write it off so quickly.  although I would have been pissed too.... keep in mind it WAS the first day.  and some glitches should have been expected.  for some reason, i feel theat they rushed construction in order to open on July 4.  the theatre, obviously needed at least another week or so to work out any minor problems.

glad to hear that they still plan on building a second theater.  if im not mistaken? there's plenty land near the Walmart and Lowes developments? i could be wrong.  a developer was having problems with rezoning for more commercial/retail not too long ago.  is that K-mart still open?  if not, I wouldnt be suprised if southern had their eyes on that building to redevelop instead of new construction.

I was expecting Hanes Mall Blvd. to be the next location but there really isn't that much land left to develop. I think Peter's Creek Pkwy. is going to be the next location as you mentioned. That K-Mart plan of your's is a real good one!

[ncbrian]

Another good location could be on Jonestown Rd where a strip mall is currently located that has the Red Rooster(?) club and is adjacent to the new Flow Lexus dealership. Plenty of parking already in place and the road is already multi-lane there.

If they build it adjacent to the new retail development on Hane's Mill Blvd, it will certainly drive up traffic to that retail complex. It could be wedged in there somehow essentially using the land right up to the interstate. I say this because on reflection of perhaps building it on Peter's Creek Parkway maybe too far away for most people as the trend of development is to the west and southwest of the county. People may just go instead to the Carmike Wynnsong because of its convenient high traffic location despite its many flaws.

[twincity]

speaking of Wynnsong, did they give up on building those 2 new screens?  whats the hold up?  

somewhere on Silas Creek near I-40 would also be good.  lots of urban decay and abandoned restaurants in that area....which is suprising.  Ive always wondered why those properties are so dead.

Edited by twincity, 05 July 2006 - 02:40 PM.

[suburban george3]

ncbrian, on Jul 5 2006, 01:31 PM, said:

If they build it adjacent to the new retail development on Hane's Mill Blvd, it will certainly drive up traffic to that retail complex. It could be wedged in there somehow essentially using the land right up to the interstate. I say this because on reflection of perhaps building it on Peter's Creek Parkway maybe too far away for most people as the trend of development is to the west and southwest of the county. People may just go instead to the Carmike Wynnsong because of its convenient high traffic location despite its many flaws.

One reason Lowes/Walmart is building on Peter's Creek is the nearly 80,000 people living in that area alone between W-S/South Forsyth/N. Davidson.  This area is growing at a quick pace and I would soon could potentially being the next Clemmons/Lewisville.  There are numerous subdivisons popping up down to Arcadia along 150 and K.Hovnanian is opening a large development along Freidburg Rd(there actually was a front page article in the Journal recently on the fast pace of development on Peter's Creek, there's constantly rezoning requests for new developments in the general area).  If you actually look at Clemmons, I guess you could say this is the next logical progression as along the backroads it's an easy commute to Clemmons from South Forysth.  Trust me, I live in this area!  

twincity, on Jul 5 2006, 02:40 PM, said:

somewhere on Silas Creek near I-40 would also be good.  lots of urban decay and abandoned restaurants in that area....which is suprising.  Ive always wondered why those properties are so dead.

at one time that area was doing OK...  At one time a home improvement warehouse store (Hechinger's I believe) was where Colfax furniture is, there was a Pizza Hut, a theater (behind Parkway Plaza), a classic arches McDonalds and so on.  However, the neighborhoods that support this area have been in a steady deep decline and are no longer attractive to national retailers.  I wish some of this area could be redeveloped into Hotel/restaurant to help support interstate traffic and take some pressure of the establishments on Hanes Mall Blvd.

I do hope that the Grand theater opens a second location near the Lowes/WalMart on Peter's Creek!  Then I'll have little reason to go over to Hanes Mall Blvd at all!!  

[JerseyBoy]

suburban george3, on Jul 5 2006, 06:23 PM, said:

One reason Lowes/Walmart is building on Peter's Creek is the nearly 80,000 people living in that area alone between W-S/South Forsyth/N. Davidson.  This area is growing at a quick pace and I would soon could potentially being the next Clemmons/Lewisville.  There are numerous subdivisons popping up down to Arcadia along 150 and K.Hovnanian is opening a large development along Freidburg Rd(there actually was a front page article in the Journal recently on the fast pace of development on Peter's Creek, there's constantly rezoning requests for new developments in the general area).  If you actually look at Clemmons, I guess you could say this is the next logical progression as along the backroads it's an easy commute to Clemmons from South Forysth.  Trust me, I live in this area!  




at one time that area was doing OK...  At one time a home improvement warehouse store (Hechinger's I believe) was where Colfax furniture is, there was a Pizza Hut, a theater (behind Parkway Plaza), a classic arches McDonalds and so on.  However, the neighborhoods that support this area have been in a steady deep decline and are no longer attractive to national retailers.  I wish some of this area could be redeveloped into Hotel/restaurant to help support interstate traffic and take some pressure of the establishments on Hanes Mall Blvd.

I do hope that the Grand theater opens a second location near the Lowes/WalMart on Peter's Creek!  Then I'll have little reason to go over to Hanes Mall Blvd at all!!  

Actually before the Colfax it was a Shopper's Paradise and before that it was the hardware store you mentioned, and Twincity, they are continuing to build the new screens at Wynnsong. I went over by there today and they were moving dirt and they had a bulldozer on the site. I just can't believe it has taken them this long since the new screens were announced almost 2 years ago!

[DigitalSky]

Important not to confuse Grand in WS with The Grande in Gso

[twincity]

^ i dont think anybody is.

[ncbrian]

DaAchiever, on Jul 5 2006, 08:41 PM, said:

Actually before the Colfax it was a Shopper's Paradise and before that it was the hardware store you mentioned, and Twincity, they are continuing to build the new screens at Wynnsong. I went over by there today and they were moving dirt and they had a bulldozer on the site. I just can't believe it has taken them this long since the new screens were announced almost 2 years ago!

The only valid reason for having that dirt there for so long if they needed to have it settle down and compact before excavating. Otherwise, losing a parking lot for so long as well as missing the peak theatre business seasons is just bad business. But then again, if they can not afford to keep their theatre clean and replace the wretched carpeting and damaged seats, then they probably can not afford to add the extension. Given me AMC or Cinemark anytime.

[DigitalSky]

twincity, on Jul 6 2006, 09:04 AM, said:

^ i dont think anybody is.

I know nobody here is.. i just meant in general

[bthomas]

While working on the ad, the person in charge of the account from The Grand changed the opening date 3 times. I don't think they had any clue when it was going to open until a few days before.

[suburban george3]

twincity, on Jul 20 2006, 03:12 PM, said:

Steak and Shake - Patterson Ave near University Pkwy

Woo Hoo, no more driving to Greensboro for a Steak and Shake fix!!  

[DigitalSky]

I blame Steak and Shake for my weight gain sophomore year.  No more of that stuff! lol

[suburban george3]

Saw the IHOP on University, seems like much of the framing is done....

Also, stopped @ Fazoli's and noticed they are closing August 9th.  According to the mgr Starbucks has bought the propery.

[eddard]

suburban george3, on Jul 27 2006, 08:52 PM, said:

Also, stopped @ Fazoli's and noticed they are closing August 9th.  According to the mgr Starbucks has bought the propery.

Good Lord ......... exactly how many Starbucks does a city of Winston's size need?  
It looks like there is one going in on Reynolda Road in place of the gas station just torn down next Reynolda Manor shopping center. Meanwhile, there was a nice little locally owned coffee shop in Reynolda Manor (Bits 'n' Bytes) that is now closed.
I drove by Fazoli's this evening and noticed the closing sign as well...a shame. So now we have no Fazoli's and 3 IHOPs.