Movies at Jefferson Valley
650 Lee Boulevard,
Yorktown Heights,
NY
10598
650 Lee Boulevard,
Yorktown Heights,
NY
10598
4 people
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Opened April 18 1986
I grew up in nearby Putnam Valley in the 80s to the mid-90s so my parents and I would come to the mall often. I remember seeing “Masters of the Universe”, “JFK” and “Sgt. Bilko” here before we moved to Atlanta, GA in the summer of 1996. I was sad to read that the mall theater I remember fondly is now gone since 2010.
Sorry to have to report that this theater is or soon will be no more (even though it closed a few years ago, it was still hidden behind panels). The mall got a permit to do a deconstruction of the theater space. At a public hearing to get approval to add some space and renovate the mall (finally), it was announced that they have a tenant for the theater space, but did not say who. The mall has really gone downhill since the movie theater closed, although the case could be made that it was already in the slide while the movie theater was open. The Cortlandt Town Center theater (mentioned above) is a new stadium style and much nicer.
Thanks guys.
While not clarifying reasons for the theater’s closing once again, the LoHud article does shed light on the theater’s opening, saying, “The theater was not an original tenant at the 27-year-old mall, but it opened after just a few years. It was one of Yorktown’s two movie theaters until the Triangle Theater in Yorktown Heights closed in 1989.” That would confirm shoeshoe’s post above saying it opened in 1986.
BTW, the “Yorktown’s only theater” thing is a bit overblown, since the Cortlandt Town Center, while not in Yorktown, is only four miles away on Route 6.
According to this article, the mall’s management would not extend to Trademark a long term lease and is looking for another operator for the theater: View link
You would think someone could have kept it open.Seems from the stories the community considered it a positive spot.Regal closed a beautiful 12 plex here in Augusta.It all about money I know.
Interesting; this is the second current or former Trademark location to close in as many weeks. The other was in Rhode Island. I wonder if Trademark is in financial difficulty or if it just wants to concentrate on its holdings closer to its home base in Coral Gables, FL.
This theatre closed on Nov. 28th. 2010.
The theatre opened in 1986.
Mall’s movie blackout to end
By BRIAN J. HOWARD
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: October 15, 2006)
YORKTOWN – Two months after Regal Entertainment Group closed its eight-screen multiplex, the movies are coming back to the Jefferson Valley Mall.
Mall officials have confirmed an announcement by Trademark Cinemas of Lake Mary, Fla., that the fledgling theater chain will make Jefferson Valley its second location. The news was first reported on Trademark’s Web site, though rumors of the theater’s return have swirled for days.
“I’m glad they’re bringing the movie theater back to the mall,” said Victor “Duff” Tirado of Cortlandt, 26, co-manager of Journeys, a clothing store. “It’s good for the mall, and it brings business in, especially on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with the kids. Even if they have no intention to shop, they still end up in these stores.”
Mahopac High School junior Gina Schmansky, 16, would see a movie every other weekend before the Jefferson Valley theater closed. The Carmel multiplex is kind of small, Schmansky said, and Cortlandt harder to reach.
For young people who can’t drive and have few other entertainment options, the mall provides a chance to meet friends, shop and grab a bite to eat, in addition to the films, she said.
“I think we should have something to do when we’re at the mall,” Schmansky said. “It keeps kids out of trouble.”
Trademark Cinemas, a discount theater operator that incorporated earlier this year, lists four locations at its Web site, but Jefferson Valley and two others in Georgia are listed as opening this fall. Efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful.
In August, Regal Entertainment Group, which also operates the United Artist Cortlandt Stadium a few miles away, closed the United Artists multiplex that operated at the mall for 20 years, leaving Yorktown with no big-screen entertainment for the first time in decades. Regal called it “an underperforming theater” at the time.
“It has definitely affected the amount of traffic that comes into the mall, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights,” said Lisa Quist of Montrose, who owns the Valley Deli at the mall.
Quist said she and other tenants understood why the theater closed. Regal’s lease was up, and it made little sense to operate two locations so close to each other. But rumors that a furniture store would replace it put many on edge, she said.
“We all wanted to know what was going in its place,” said Quist. “We were all very concerned, but I do feel the mall turned it around very quickly.”
Yorktown Councilman Nicholas Bianco, who lives nearby, said he learned of the theater plans from a former employee who has applied for a job with the new operator.
Bianco said he’d heard that the new theater would open in two weeks and offer discount tickets.
“If it’s true, I think it’s a great thing that we get a moviehouse back in town,” Bianco said.
Trademark’s Web site states that it specializes in neighborhood theaters that “deliver a great movie experience at lower prices than the major national chains.”
The Lake Mary, Fla., location lists current releases, including “All the King’s Men,” “The Departed” and “Jackass Number Two.” The $7 ticket price is discounted to $4.50 for seniors and children.
Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
We had many movie birthday parties for our kids at the mall. Pizza at the food court and then down to the theater. In fact just this July….. sorry to see it go.
It’s the last show at the JV Mall in Yorktown
By DAVID MCKAY WILSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
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(Original publication: August 21, 2006)
YORKTOWN â€" The final curtain came down early this morning at United Artist Theatres at the Jefferson Valley Mall, as the final credits for Will Ferrell’s hit, “Talledega Nights,” went dark at 12:18 a.m.
It was the last day for the eight-screen theater complex on the mall’s first floor, a favorite movie house for Bob Ginsberg of Yorktown, who paid $9.50 to see an afternoon matinee.
“It’s the end of an era,” said Ginsberg. “And I feel bad today for the whole mall. With the movies gone, it feels like it is dying.”
The closing of the Jefferson Valley movies, owned by Regal Entertainment, means movie lovers in northern Westchester and Putnam counties will have to drive elsewhere to see the latest releases. Four miles west of Jefferson Valley on Route 6, they’ll find the 11-screen complex at the Cortlandt Town Center, also owned by Regal. Eleven miles to the east there’s the Carmel Movieplex 8 on Route 52.
It was a bittersweet day for ticket-taker Cheryl Salerno, 39, who sat in her wooden chair, tearing tickets in two, while cheerfully wishing each customer to enjoy the movie. She had worked there part-time for the past eight years and had come to know the regulars.
“It’s kind of sad,” said Salerno of Cortlandt, who is looking for a new job. “I’ve grown to know so many people here, and they were great friends to me.”
Regal decided to close the theaters in a cost-saving move, noting that the screens at Jefferson Valley weren’t drawing large enough audiences.
The theaters will close while its mall neighbor, Suncoast Motion Picture Co., will stay open, selling digital video discs to film buffs who’d rather enjoy their movies in the privacy of their homes, watching on big-screen home-entertainment centers.
Nick Hellberg, who was working behind the counter at Suncoast, said DVDs now come out as quickly as eight weeks after new releases end their runs in the movie houses.
“It used to take six months to get DVDs on the market, but people want instant gratification,” he said.
Documenting the theaters demise was Kevin Muller, editor of The Chieftain, Mahopac High School’s student newspaper, who was photographing families buying tickets. The mall is a favorite haunt of local teens. Muller said it wasn’t unusual for parents to drop off their kids for a movie, and then pick them up later, giving them time to hang out with their peers in the mall’s safe confines. Muller said it could be a tougher sell for teens to convince their parents that, without the movies, they really want to go to the mall to go shopping.
“The next closest mall is the Danbury Mall, and that’s not really close at all,” he said.
Up at the mall’s food court, workers at several food outlets were bracing for a downturn in business. The movies brought crowds on Friday and Saturday nights as movie-goers often stopped for a meal before the flick or an ice cream when the movie was done. Families would also stop for a bite after a weekend matinee.
At the Desert Moon Cafe, John Casas of Yorktown, 18, heated up quesadillas on the grill. Casas recalled going to the movies as a young teen. Now he’s worried what will happen.
“Friday nights are really packed here with kids coming to the movies, and now it’s going to be dead,” he said. “It’s horrible that they’ve taken the fun out of the mall.”
Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
This theater is located in the Jefferson Valley Mall, which is on Route 6 just off the Taconic State Parkway in Yorktown Heights, NY. I believe the mall opened in the late 70s-early 80s. The entrance to the theater complex is from the lower level of the two-story mall. In the last few years Simon Properties did a major overhaul of the mall, and I think there is talk of expanding it to compete with larger malls, such as the Danbury Fair and Cortlandt Town Center. I’m unsure whether the theater has been expanded or subdivided since it opened; I seem to recall it originally being a six-plex, but I’m having trouble finding details anywhere. And I’m sure I’ve seen movies here, but not in many years, and nothing about the interior stands out in my mind.