Hudson Valley Movie Theater Closing Its Doors
The movie theater at the South Hills Mall on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie, the South Hills Cinema 8, operated by Empire Cinemas, will be closing their doors for good on Sunday, February 3.
Originally opening in 1984 as the Silver Cinemas, the South Hills Cinema 8 was the place to go to catch a movie at a much cheaper rate than your standard movie theater. The main catch, having to wait for new releases to do their first run in the larger theaters before they ended up on the big screen at the South Hills Mall location.
This isn't the first time the big screens have gone dark at the South Hills Mall, back in February 2014 the former Silver Cinemas closed for a short time before reopening under Empire Cinemas management as the South Hills Cinema 8 in March 2014.
The theater had been having some issues lately, as many patrons that visited over the past few months were informed at the ticket booth that some of the theaters were without heat. Others learned about the heat issues via complaints on community facebook pages - which is where I found out about the closing.
Posts started popping up in 'The Hudson Valley' facebook group over the past 24 hours or so, asking if anyone knew more information about the theater closing. A post on the official facebook page for The South Hills Cinema 8 confirms the rumors, stating that "we will be open through Sunday which will be our final day of operations." Additionally, their website is only showing showtimes through Sunday.
What are your thoughts on the closing? Will you miss 'the cheapy movies' - as my family so affectionately called it growing up? Do you think they'll end up reopening?