HAMPTON, Va. — The doors are officially locked at Cinema Cafe in Hampton.
This week, the Hampton Roads chain posted on its Facebook page saying that it's Hampton location showed its last movie, after 18 years in business.
“Good food, good everything and it is sad it’s closing like that,” said Hampton resident Antonia Harris.
Cinema Cafe spokeswoman Caitlin Walker said they told staff members they had to shut down this location near Mercury Boulevard on Sunday. They announced the closure to the public on Monday.
“We had a really successful year this year and an overall good bounce back from the pandemic, but our lease expired and it was no longer feasible to stay open in that location,” Walker said.
Hampton resident Jessica Gonzalez said she recently got to see one last movie, but she didn’t know it at the time.
“It has no signs of closing down,” Gonzalez said. “We were making plans to come next week to see another movie and all the sudden I found out they were closing.”
She said the theater was her family’s go-to spot.
“Sometimes on a rainy day when you have nowhere to go here you could dine, have drinks and movie, all in one, it was perfect,” Gonzalez said.
Former staff member Antonio Harris said his final memory at the cinema is one he’ll never forget.
“We were just here last week with our son, our six month old,” Harris said. “His first movie, Paw Patrol.”
Glenn Hadley Jr. said he wishes Cinema Cafe’s owners had announced the closure in advance so he could give his favorite theater a proper send-off.
“That one more opportunity to just go experience the ambiance of that,” Hadley said. “Get a chance to say our goodbye instead of it being an abrupt, by the way we are shut down and there is nothing else we can do about it.”
Harris, however, said he’s not ready to give his goodbyes just yet.
“I’ve been calling around to see what the community can do, and what the city can do to see if we can do something about keeping this place open,” Harris said.
Marketing Director Caitlin Walker said Cinema Cafe hopes to see Hampton team members transition to one of its five other locations, but they are also offering severance packages.
Information on Cinema Cafe's Facebook said anyone who has a Cinema Cafe movie pass can use it at any of the other five locations in Hampton Roads. It said Hampton moviegoers can also use their passes at EVO Entertainment across the street in Peninsula Town Center.