Gardner Cinemas

The original Gardner Cinemas was housed in the 1913-built Orpheum Theatre turned Gardner Theatre, serving about 85 years before closing May 1, 1999. The operation moved to Timpany Plaza. That center had been announced in 1970 with a Rich’s Self Service Department Store and a Stop ‘n’ Shop as its anchors. The Gardner Cinemas opened taking over about half of the shuttered Rich’s anchor. It opened May 7, 1999 with six screens and a 1,050 seat capacity headlined by “The Matrix”.

The venue closed for the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2020 and credited the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) as the lifeline it needed to get through the pandemic in the months that it was shuttered.

In early-2023, luxury reclining chairs replaced the traditional movie theater seats in all eight screening rooms reducing overall count to just 600 seats. The venue celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2024 and was still chugging along in past the mid-2020’s.

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