 |
|
|
|
|
Historic theater up for sale after enduring rough economic year
Attendance is down greatly from last year
By Erin Mayes
After only a few years in business, Robin Swartz is looking to sell the Gaslighter Theatre.
Swartz said business hasn't been booming for about a year now and, in fact, the location at 400 E. Campbell Ave. has been for sale since April. But the theater's status was made public only after she put a "For Sale" sign up in the window earlier this month.
Swartz said she's worried that whoever purchases the location won't use it as a theater, as it has been for the last 32 years. The building was a movie house--the Orchard City Theater--for 27 years before it began to host plays in 1969. Originally the building housed the Growers Bank, formed by Benjamin Curry in 1919.
Swartz said she's willing to make a good deal with anyone who is interested in installing a projection system and showing old movies because she'd prefer the new owners continue using the building as a theater.
"What I'm really hoping is that there's someone who's interested in investing or becoming a business partner," Swartz said, "or someone who's interested in buying and then leasing it back to us. I'd hate to see it go away."
The theater holds 185 people, and Swartz said she should now be seeing audiences of 100 to 120 people because this is supposed to be the height of the season. Lately she's seen diminished audiences of only 30 people at a time.
With the dwindling economy, there have also been fewer corporate events. Last year the theater hosted about 10 corporate events, Swartz said, and this year there have been only two.
Swartz bought the business in 1998 with her ex-husband, Terry, and her brother and his wife, Brian and Wendy Tharp. Since then, she and Terry divorced and the Tharps opted out of the business after they had children. Running the business solo has been just one of the difficulties Swartz has endured.
Part of the problem, she said, is that the theater has never had the operating capital necessary to make itself more visible through advertising. Often, people tell Swartz they went to the theater as many as 10 years ago and seem surprised to hear that it's still open.
"If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I wouldn't be in this situation," she said.
A single mother of three children, Swartz grew up in Campbell, attending Castlemont Elementary School, Campbell Middle School and Blackford High School.
Swartz, 33, said she has put her every last dollar into keeping the Gaslighter open and said that even though she'd rather see it continue to operate as a theater, if a buyer who wanted to convert it to a different use comes in, she'd consider the offer if it were the right amount of money.
The price is negotiable, but Swartz said the current asking price is $1.2 million, down $200,000 from the previous price of $1.4 million.
Swartz and her partners purchased the theater from the Gaetano family in 1998. The Gaetanos owned the theater for 18 years, continuing the tradition started by the previous owners of putting on melodrama and vaudeville shows. The Gaetanos purchased the theater from Don and Faye Cupp, who started producing melodrama shows in 1969, after the prior owners discovered it was too difficult to run a movie theater because television and drive-in theaters had become popular.
Even though Swartz has fallen on hard times, she said she's still grateful that she's living her dream.
"This is a labor of love," she said. "Even on the dark days, I still love what I'm doing."
|
|
|
|
Campbell, California
