Regal Edwards Stadium in River Park closes again
Nearby restaurants that often serve moviegoers worry their business will slow down.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The show will not go on at the Regal Edwards Stadium in River Park.
The second-largest theatre chain announced it will temporarily close all of its locations across the country because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelsey Kunzler and Lisa Ingram came to watch Hocus Pocus, one of the last screenings playing Thursday night.
The closure surprised them since theatres were given the green light to reopen more than a week ago with safety modifications in place.
"I'm a regular moviegoer, I was excited it opened. I thought it was going to stay open," said Kunzler.
The owner of The Hangar just steps from the theater said his restaurant was serving up a lot more food as they were seeing more customers since Regal Edwards reopened.
Small Cakes nearby opened in the mall just five months ago and a lot of the bakery's customers are often folks wanting to enjoy something sweet after the cinema.
"We were relying on that business to give us a boost and put the exposure out there. It's going to be harder to get people to hang around," said owner Sukhi Nahal.
Regal Cinemas commented on the closure on their website, saying, "We will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate our future plans to resume operations once film studios are able to bring their pipeline of major movie releases back to the big screen."
In the meantime, businesses like The Hangar and Small Cakes are hoping customers keep coming...and support small businesses.
Along with the Regal Theater in River Park, the Regal Unites Artists in Clovis and Regal UA Broadway Faire along Shaw are also closed.
The Regal Manchester, however, will continue to remain open at this time.
