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Enough to go aroundBy SHARON L. BOND © St. Petersburg Times, published February 21, 2001
When BayWalk's Muvico 20 opened late last year, observers wondered if the stadium seating and state-of-the-art sound system would hurt other theaters. Nobody will cite specific numbers, but a manager at Crossroads, an AMC theater near Tyrone Square Mall, thinks attendance is down only slightly. His guess is that more people simply are going to the movies more often. A Friday and Saturday night spent talking to more than 30 moviegoers at Crossroads 8 and BayWalk backs up his gut feeling. The seats are better at BayWalk, the evening prices are $1 better at Crossroads. But, on balance, both complexes were crowded, often drawing people who live nearest to them. And little touches such as friendly service and a feeling of being at home matter a great deal. Troy Desmarais and Gina Giusti live in Seminole, but on Saturday night they drove to BayWalk to see the movie Down to Earth. "We pretty much come here. If it is spur of the moment, we go closer to our home. It's a half-hour ride from here to Seminole Boulevard," Giusti said. But they consider the drive worth it. "I like it. The chairs are a lot more comfortable. You can see everything. You're not looking at someone's head," Desmarais said. "The stores outside give you stuff to do before and after. You can come any time. They've got the same movie going a couple of different times, 6:30, 7 and 7:30 p.m." The couple sees from four to six movies a month. Before BayWalk, they divided their time among theaters in the Largo Mall, Seminole and St. Petersburg. Andrea Maus lives in Shore Acres in St. Petersburg and sees BayWalk as convenient and plush. "It's close to home, and the only stadium seating in Pinellas County. I'm spoiled and won't go to a theater unless it has stadium seating," Maus said. She has been going to a movie a month but said the proximity of BayWalk likely will increase her trips to the theater. It is no surprise that other movie theaters in the area are losing patrons to BayWalk, the new entertainment/retail complex in downtown St. Petersburg. Muvico, which owns BayWalk, says the new theater is leading in ticket sales in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area. But the Fort Lauderdale-based chain would not provide numbers to show the lead. With 20 screens, BayWalk now is the largest theater in the St. Petersburg area. ParkSide, a 16-screen theater at the mall in Pinellas Park, is scheduled to open March 30. BayWalk is elegant with a chandelier in the lobby and fancy tile in the restrooms. It has a child care center and a vast array of food not usually found in theaters, such as curly fries, popcorn shrimp, buffalo wings and cold drinks made with candy bars. Other theaters have their strong suits. Film Paradiso, the St. Pete Beach theater, is historic and in the art house film niche. Crossroads 8 is near a portion of the city away from BayWalk and familiar to a lot of moviegoers. Crossroads 8 had decent crowds over the weekend for Hannibal, which also was showing at BayWalk. It also had Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was not showing at BayWalk. And its evening ticket prices are $6, compared with BayWalk's $7. Ryan Carson, general manager for Crossroads 8 and Tyrone 6, said he figured his theaters lost some to BayWalk. But he believes BayWalk increased moviegoing overall. "I think it's good it's there because it is attracting people not going to the movies," Carson said. Crossroads 8 draws moviegoers from the more western area of the city. Jim Holmes, who lives near Tyrone Square Mall, saw a late afternoon showing of Cast Away at Crossroads on Friday. "It's close by and right around the corner. I like smaller theaters. It's a little bit more quiet, not so much hassle," Holmes said. "Here it's very clean. The people are really nice. I've been here a few times because it's close by." Holmes said he would make an evening out of a trip to BayWalk, eating at one of the restaurants there as well as seeing a movie. Carson, the Crossroads/Tyrone manager, said he believes that as long as the AMC theaters provide a high level of customer service, they will pull in the moviegoers. "All we can do is focus on a level of customer service. I'm telling my people to make sure they are nice to customers. That's why they come back," Carson said. Shaqualia Smith, Demetrice Ross, Darren Harris and Lakeita Miller were at Crossroads for the 8 p.m. showing of Hannibal on Saturday. "I live near here. I've been coming here a long time," Smith said. "I know people who work here," said Harris, who added that knowing some of the staff made it comfortable for the teens to come to Crossroads. Keila Stevens, who lives in the southern part of the city, near neither theater location, was at Crossroads. She said she would have preferred to go to BayWalk but had a gift certificate for an AMC theater. "That's why I'm here," Stevens said. "The last two movies I've seen, I've gone there (BayWalk)." Gift certificates are not the only added incentive for theaters. Carson said AMC's Movie Watcher program has a large following. In it theatergoers get points for every ticket they buy. They amass points they can redeem for free popcorn, soda or tickets. Film Paradiso in St. Pete Beach has a loyal following and is far enough from BayWalk not to suffer too much from the new complex, according to creative director Richard Hughes. It also was recently remodeled, and a new sound system installed. "I think it is a personal asset to downtown," Hughes said of BayWalk. "So far we haven't been hurt too badly." He added that if his sound had not been upgraded, losses would have been greater. Film Paradiso shows art house films, usually getting movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon earlier than the mainstream houses. Hughes said he was concerned about larger theaters' advertising themselves as showing art house films. "We've had Crouching Tiger. A year or two years ago, Blair Witch would absolutely sell out. Now maybe we've got 20 seats left out of 248" for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The loyal following, quaint feel of the historic theater and fact that Film Paradiso sells beer and wine give it its own advantage, Hughes thinks. Several weekend moviegoers care enough about amenities such as stadium seating to have been driving to Veterans Expressway 24 in Hillsborough County before BayWalk. "BayWalk is state of the art. We would drive all the way to Tampa to Veterans 24," said John Gallant of St. Petersburg. "I found it much better at BayWalk. We liked the garage. We felt secure. It's free parking." Gallant said this as he waited at Crossroads to see Hannibal. He had eaten at a nearby restaurant and headed on to the movies right there. Very close to Crossroads 8 are Bennigan's, Longhorn and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Gallant said he thought of going to Dish, one of the half a dozen restaurants at BayWalk, but worried how crowded it would be on a Friday night. Restaurants at BayWalk have been packed. The $1 difference in evening ticket prices mattered to Tony Smith, who also was at Crossroads to see Hannibal. "We just came from BayWalk. We didn't watch a movie. BayWalk is too expensive," Smith said. "We go to a lot of movies. We buy movies and DVDs. If the price (at BayWalk) was reasonable, we would go. We come to this one. Either here or Tyrone mall. They are pretty good theaters."
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