Business at Kalamazoo Movie Theaters Stays 'Steady' Despite Economic Downturn

Kalamazoo, Michigan -- In an economy weighed down by sagging sales, struggling markets for consumers and the constant threat of higher gas prices, movie theaters in Kalamazoo seem to be doing just fine.

Melanie Meyers, 21, assistant manager at Rave Cityplace, at 180 Portage Road in Kalamazoo, said their theater hasn't seen a downturn in ticket sales at all.

"If you compare our numbers to last year at this time they're just about even," she said. "They've just stayed pretty steady, really."

Meyers said the escapism that movies offer may be a contributing factor in continued sales despite the current economic downturn. That sales trend appears to be continuing even as they move into their busiest season, she said.

Emily Dehen, 26, assistant manager at Celebration! Cinema Crossroads, at 6600 Ring Road in Portage, said turnout there also has remained typical going into the holiday season.

"I think movies are one thing people are going to go to regardless," Dehen said, referring to the steady sales in light of current financial constraints.

Dehen said although the theater is coming off of a period of a few weeks of lower sales, that has more to do with the cinema offering smaller or more independent films that appealed to a narrower audience than it does with a struggling economy. If more good movies come out, like the current James Bond sequel, she said, people will come to see them.

Neither Rave nor Celebration! has offered explicit incentives to keep people coming out to their theaters at a time when consumer confidence is at its lowest in recent memory and credit is getting tighter and tighter, and when retailers reported the worst October sales figures since at least 1971.

Despite the troubling trends in other markets, Dehen said, Celebration! recently raised its ticket prices by a quarter.

Lexi Thalmann, 21, of Kalamazoo, went to see the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" with her husband Saturday night. She said the economy hasn't affected her spending habits when it comes to going to the movies.

"I think movies are cheap enough that if I want to see a movie I go see it anyways," she said. "A lot of times, I wanna go out and do something, and going to a movie is cheaper than going shopping, so I go to a movie."

Thalmann seems to be the rule rather than the exception when it comes to consumer spending habits at the movies. Media By Numbers LLC, a company that monitors and analyzes box-office data, reports that the top twelve films of the weekend of Nov. 7 grossed nearly $30 million more than the same weekend last year, an increase of 26.17 percent despite the current economic crisis.

Thalmann said that movies aren't the only area she's continued to spend like normal, however, leaving one to wonder whether or not the financial crisis simply has yet to trickle down to middle-class workers without a mortgage to pay.

"I've just been living how I'm normally living," she said. "I haven't really cut back on anything, but I don't really live that extravagantly anyway."