Rumford Cinema 1 & 2

The Druker Company of Boston announced the $2 million Abbott Farm Shopping Plaza (AFSP) in 1972 and its anchor store, Zayre Corp. department store #88 opened there in 1973 and was joined by a Shop ‘n’ Save grocery store. The AFSP complex added the independently-operated Rumford Cinema 1 & 2 opening on November 5, 1975 with Elliott Gould in “Whiffs” and Kirk Douglas in “Once is Not Enough.”

Melvin Stone of the local radio station WRUM opened the venue on what is believed to be a 20-year lease. Architectural firm Theatre Designers of America under architect Louis Chiaramonte designed the theatre. Nellie Burgess was a manager of the venue. The complex had two matching 200-seat auditoriums seating a total of 400 patrons and survived into the home video era fulfilling most - if not all - of that leasing agreement.

The Zayre anchor was acquired by Ames in 1986. The rebranded Ames store was closed when the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy dissolving the chain in 2002 with the entire AFSP complex going into greyfield status. In 2005, the AFSP got new operators and retailers becoming known as the River Valley Crossing which was still functioning in the 2020’s. The former theatre space had been converted for other retail purposes.

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