Worcester Business Journal

F O C U S S M A L L B U S I N E S S BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Source: National Association of Theatre Owners Fewer people watching movies As the average movie ticket price hit an all-time high of $8.97 in 2017, the number of people paying to see movies hit a 22-year low. Small local theaters buck against industry trends to create a different business model The movie-going experience W hen the Strand eatre in Clinton was rehabilitated in the mid-1990s aer a long period of sitting vacant, Rob Nierintz and friends made it a tradition to see a movie each Sunday night, sitting in the same seats. "Half the time, we didn't even know what was playing," Nierintz said. e movie buff, who worked in client services for Fidelity Investments in Marlborough at the time, never saw himself as the theater's future owner. But for the past six years, he has been. Nierintz and business partner Bill Grady bought the theater in 2012. And he still gets to sit down for a movie each Sunday night. Except he first needs to make sure the kitchen sends food out in time and the bar isn't backed up on drink orders, and he'll oen miss the previews, the opening credits and maybe the first half-hour of the movie. It was a similar story for Jim Perry. e Millbury native started regularly catching movies at the Elm Draught House Cinema in the center of town while in high school, and then bought the theater in 2000. "I don't know if it's a passion or a tor- ture," Perry joked of running the theater, which he does with the help of only five 0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000 2012 0 1B 2B '87 '90 '95 '00 '05 '10 '15 1.09B 1.24B ATTENDANCE "There's something very special and nostalgic about it being on this street," Strand co-owner Rob Nierintz said of the Strand Theatre's location on High Street in the center of Clinton. 14 Worcester Business Journal | April 30, 2018 | wbjournal.com PHOTO/MATT WRIGHT

• Cover