Renovations at The Strand

I have let waaaaay too much time go by and I’m going to try and do a much better job keeping you posted on the exciting things happening for us!  Between running The Strand and taking care of an almost two-year old, my days & nights are pretty full.  This spring, thanks to the Paw Paw DDA, my husband and our wonderful employees, we were able to redo the area behind the concession counter.  It may not be very visible to customers, but we painted, added a new counter top, got a new menu board and put in an under-counter refrigerator and ice maker.  We can now keep our water cold through the rush and the ice maker has saved us tons of time and allows us to serve our customers quicker.

At the end of the summer, we decided the balcony was in need of a face lift.  We removed all of the old, hard, squeaky seats upstairs and put in nice, plush comfortable seats with cup holders.  We also cleaned and painted the floor and walls up there.  We’re excited to paint the rest of the auditorium and lobby hopefully next spring.

You’ll notice in the coming months that the renovations will come to a pause.  It’s time to completely focus our resources on purchasing a digital projector.  Film will  become a thing of the past by the end of next year and if we don’t get a digital projector, we won’t be able to show movies anymore.  The investment is approximately $60,000 and we’re hoping to install our new system late next winter or early in the spring.  We’ll keep you posted on the progress – watch for some upcoming fundraisers!

Sorry again for taking so long to update the blog – I’ll do a better job going forward.  Thanks for your support of and interest in The Strand Theater!!

This is the posts comments

  1. John January 11, 2013 at 5:48 pm #

    That is very exciting news… You’re doing a great job! We love having you in Paw Paw. 🙂

  2. Ethan February 2, 2013 at 1:30 am #

    Are you hiring?

    • amy February 25, 2013 at 5:07 pm #

      Hi Ethan –

      We’re not hiring at this moment, but you can always come in and fill out an application. We keep them at the theater and next time I hire, I will use the applications we’ve already received.

      Thanks,

      Amy

  3. Brian February 12, 2013 at 5:45 pm #

    My wife and I came in a couple weeks ago. It’s great having this theater locally. I appreciate the work it must take to run this and would love to see more updates on what you are doing.

    • amy February 25, 2013 at 5:05 pm #

      Hi Brian –

      Thank you for the comment! We have some exciting news about our digital projector – as soon as I receive a few more confirmations, I’ll add another post.

      Amy

  4. Sheryl March 4, 2013 at 6:51 pm #

    I’m so happy that there is a theater in Paw Paw! And I’m glad the balcony is open. It was always frustrating to come in and it seemed like it was ALWAYS closed (before you took over). It was like they were teasing us – letting us see the steps going up, but putting a chain across saying “Balcony Closed.” Good Luck with all your plans – for the business and your family!

    • amy March 5, 2013 at 5:18 pm #

      Thanks Sheryl!

  5. brian moore March 27, 2013 at 9:07 pm #

    are any of the old seats from the balcony available? 2 would be wonderful. I proposed to my wife in the balcony!
    Guess I’m just sentimental.
    really enjoy your fine theatre

    • amy March 29, 2013 at 4:38 pm #

      Hi Brian –

      Thanks for the message! We’ve heard a lot of stories about the history of The Strand, but yours is the first marriage proposal story I’ve heard. We got rid of most of the old balcony seats last year, but I’ll have my husband check and see if we have some we could part with. Thanks again for sharing your story!