rev:text
| - IAs of June 13, 2013 this location will be closed and re-opening at the now disfunct Empire Theatres location at Empress Walk. Makes sense, now that Cineplex has bought out Empire Theatres, and no need to have two huge locations within walking distance of each other. Why they picked one of the other, I'm not sure.
Maybe its because Sheppard Grande doesn't get a lot of traffic. The only real attraction here other than movies is the Winners, maybe Shoppers Drug Mart and Spring Rolls. The stores in this plaza are archaic, and seems like the only people who actually visit this building are people who work nearby. Although with the advent of all these condos, not sure why it hasn't changed.
Sheppard Grande was one of the first, of the monstrous screens and stadium seating movie theatres that was built in the era of Paramount Theatres. Spent a lot of high school days here. It's got huge ceilings, which you can imagine the two story retail mall potential this could be. I will be disappointed if it were anything else - something about Toronto development tells me that they probably will waste this space with something else. Asian developers would build an incredible array of small local boutiques in any space.
Perhaps this place was too big for the lack of demand. Empress in general is much smaller - and since combining the audience for the two, have they predicted correctly, or Empress Walk is now going to turn into a mess. But they have renovated and included a new IMAX theatre.
I was a fan of the theatre, but never the service. This last visit proved to be correct. I get that they are closing, but doesn't mean Cineplex isn't represented here. I would think they still want to do a decent job.
Wanted to get a tea - but the cafe wasn't open and only opened at 5pm. Mid movie, hubby went out to get me my tea - but it was opened and no one was standing there. It was as if the entire concessions was only upheld by one person.
What's more was that the theatre was FREEZING. Had to be at least only 10 C in there. we huddled together under a jacket, and if it wasn't for that, would have been ill today.
Despite all that, the theatre will be missed. Hopefully they will be smart and replace it will something cool.
|