Farewell Big Screen Cinema
Is it just me or does everyone think we will never fully understand what Covid has stolen?
It shut the doors at Caloundra Big Screen Cinema this week.
It shut the doors on 26 years of blockbusters, first kisses in the back row, French film festivals, kids’ birthday parties, homemade choc tops and fundraisers people actually wanted to attend.
It shut the door on the little guy selling movie tickets for half the price of the multinational, jobs for local kids and the sound of Nick Struik’s booming great guffaw echoing across Bulcock St.
Nick is at pains to point out nobody did anything wrong.
It was just a perfect storm.
Even before Covid, streaming services had started to bite the movie industry.
According to the Motion Picture Association, the number of movie tickets sold every year has been steadily shrinking since 2002.
Radio personality Caroline Hutchinson says we are yet to fully understand the impact of Covid-19. Picture: Patrick Woods
Radio personality Caroline Hutchinson says we are yet to fully understand the impact of Covid-19. Picture: Patrick Woods
Nick says Covid-19, and almost two years of restrictions, were the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Nick is a dear friend of mine.
To you, he might be the brash businessman who tends to hold the floor and take few prisoners.
To me he is the man who always notices the person sitting in the corner.
Nick never lets anyone hide, instead he coaxes people into the light. Initially it might be to lambast your shirt or berate you for something said on the air (random example, obviously) but it’s done with love.
Nick wants people to feel seen. And I adore him for it.
We talked for a while this week about what comes next.
Big Screen Cinemas has been a sensational business. Long hours, busy weekends, and non-stop interaction with the public, but Nick has loved every second.
He is still a young man and he has plans, starting with a licence to be a stop-go sign operator at roadworks. I told my mum that is what Nick will do next and she laughed, “Well there will be a big traffic jam every day he’s working because he’ll talk to everyone in the cars”.
Nick is philosophical. He says the government couldn’t have saved his business and he wouldn’t expect it. Free enterprise is at the mercy of the market and the Covid market couldn’t sustain a cinema in Caloundra.
I am less philosophical. I say hold on tight to the people and places you love. The ground is shifting under our feet.
