Pullman Theater Welcomes Folks Back to the Movies

PULLMAN, WASH -The Village Centre Cinemas in Pullman has been open since March 5^th and the theater has been thriving since the reopening.

While the theater is only open Friday through Sunday, many people, like theater manager Katie Bjorkman were surprised at the eagerness of locals to return to the movies.  

She said that she underordered a lot of products because she wasn’t expecting many people to show up. The public was eager to return to the movies and the theater ended up selling out many of their weekend shows and even sold out a lot of their different candies.

While many people are eager to return to the movies, the staff of the Pullman theater have multiple systems in place that allow for people to still enjoy going to the movies while maintaining their social distance.

Bjorkman said that there are employees readily standing by at sanitizing stations next to all of their soda dispensers and butter bowl areas for popcorn. She also said that no showtimes start at the same time, this allows people to come in at different times and maintain social distance from large groups of people.

On March 22^nd the State of Washington will be moving into phase three. Regional manager Michelle Doughtery says that while moving into phase three will allow for 50% occupancy in certain venues, the Pullman theater will be operating below the maximum number of people allowed in an auditorium.

In auditoriums that would normally hold 200 people, there will only be 65 to an auditorium once phase three comes on Monday.

Bjorkman says she expects the theater to remain open Friday through Sunday for a little while longer. She hopes that once big summer movies begin to release and folks have more time on their hands they will be able to open during the week.

With businesses like the Pullman theater beginning to enter phase three, people are starting to see a slow return to normalcy.