Romantix

For nearly 25 years, downtown Battle Creek was home to an adult theater, the Eastown Capri Theatre. When the behemoth W.K. Kellogg Foundation project was unveiled in 1987, the venue found itself in the crosshairs of a sweeping property acquisition and demolition effort tied to downtown redevelopment. To hasten that process, the City also introduced a zoning ordinance intended to encourage—if not effectively require—adult businesses to relocate from the central district. In 1988, the Eastown Capri Theatre moved to 686–690 Michigan Avenue West, and its former downtown location was subsequently demolished.(This venue has its own Cinema Treasure entry).

The building that housed the “new” Eastown Capri Theatre had been constructed in 1947 for retail tenants, including The Trading Post and the short-lived Bowers Hardware. The Star Adult Store relocated to the same multi-unit building in 1980, operating as an adult bookstore and novelty retailer. Eight years later, the downtown Eastown Capri Theatre joined the complex and partnered with the Star. It kept the Eastown Capri Theatre name for three years as a film exhibitor before fusing name and functions with Star Adult in a rebranding as the Capri Star Theatre in the early-1990’s.

That name didn’t last long and it reverted to its former Eastown Capri Theatre name, but became the focus of protests led by Bobby Holley that sought its closure in 1993. Ownership resisted those efforts and retained the Eastown Capri Theatre moniker into the early-21st Century. By that time, the business model here and at the majority of similar adult theatres had shifted largely toward home video and novelty sales. New Denver-based operators, Romantix Inc. eventually took over the venue operating under its nationwide chain of stores simply called Romantix.

Somewhat unexpectedly, the location was outfitted with a small HDTV screening room in the 2020’s, featuring daily programming of adult film titles and occasional by-request titles. Seating for both individuals and couples served as a nod to the site’s exhibition past. Despite operating under different owners and at two separate addresses, the business maintains a lineage spanning more than sixty years of adult film exhibition along Battle Creek’s heavily trafficked Michigan Avenue — an unusually long and notable run for a niche theater.

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