Atascadero’s Galaxy Theatres abruptly changes hands — leaving movie-goers with questions
Galaxy Theatres at Atascadero’s downtown Colony Square is changing management effective Thursday.
The movie theater will be renamed Colony Cinemas, with Sanborn Theatres taking over as operator, property owner and Cinema Square LLC CEO Jeff Nelson said in a news release.
The lease for the current operator, Los Angeles-based Galaxy Theatres, runs until the end of June but the business opted to depart “abruptly” effective June 23, Nelson said in the release.
In a statement signed by three company representatives, Galaxy Theatres said that it did not opt to leave the Atascadero community, but rather that the decision was “forced upon us” when the business was unable to negotiate a new lease with its landlord.
“We at Galaxy Theatre Atascadero are saddened by our departure,” the statement read. “It was not our choice, nor was it our preference to leave behind such a wonderful, vibrant community.”
Nelson is bringing on Bruce Sanborn, who leads the family-owned Sanborn Theatres chain of movie theaters, to take over operations at the new Colony Cinemas, Nelson said in the release.
Sanborn Theatres has run Downtown Centre Cinemas in San Luis Obispo for 30 years and has more than 100 years of experience running cinemas, according to the release.
“The new team of operators will bring their vast experience and local touches to the theater,” the release said. “They anticipate enhancements over time.”
Sanborn extended employment offers to the workers at Galaxy Theatres, and most of them took him up on the offer, Nelson said in the release.
“We are excited that a seasoned and well capitalized local theater operator stepped up at the last minute so that Atascadero can continue to have a fine theatre as the anchor of its downtown” Nelson said in the release.
Nelson said the team aims to reopen the movie theater next Thursday.
Local patrons have plenty of questions about the change in management.
A thread in the “Everything Atascadero” Facebook group had more than 40 comments as of Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
One of the key concerns is whether the new operators will honor unfulfilled gift certificates purchased when the theater was operated by Galaxy Theatres.
The Tribune reached out to Nelson and Sanborn with these questions but did not hear back ahead of publication.
Atascadero’s Galaxy Theatres faced foreclosure during the pandemic
Galaxy Theatres ran the Atascadero-based location for 10 years and struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rent from Galaxy Theatres covered 80% of the mortgage paid by Nelson, the property owner, to the lenders who held the mortgage, according to past Tribune coverage.
But due to COVID-19 restrictions, the cinema was closed for much of March 2020 through February 2021 and failed to generate the revenue necessary to cover rent and by extension the mortgage on the property at Colony Square owned by Nelson, the Tribune reported.
The lenders threatened foreclosure, something local and state lawmakers sought to prevent. The Atascadero City Council passed a resolution in February 2021 in support of Nelson and the Atascadero movie theater.
Despite the hardships of the coronavirus pandemic and the abrupt change in management announced this week, Nelson said the future of cinema is looking bright.
“Movies have returned in a resounding way, post pandemic, with the studios having a great backlog of movies ready to roll out. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is the most recent of these with many great releases scheduled,” Nelson said.
This story was originally published June 23, 2022 at 1:59 PM.
