Saturday, December 19, 2009

What do you think of our neighborhood movie house?

Yesterday on the Facebook page I linked to a Cinema Treasures page regarding our neighborhood movie house ICE Chatham 14. Here is the comment of note on that page:
Yes, I totally agree………….. IT USED TO BE NICE!!!! However, myself, my family members, neighbors, and friends ALL agree pretty much EVERYTHING has changed! The managers are NICE-nasty! The concession stand workers are VERY RUDE and unconcerned! Most of the time the ticket booth workers are just as rude. I experienced and my 8 yr old God-daughter witnessed an awful scene where I was loudly berated by a concession stand worker. I emailed the theater and received (2) NICE-Nasty, condescending emails telling me that I didn’t witness what happened before my very eyes. I asked them to check the audio surveillance to “hear” the guy going off on me! I was “offered” free tickets to return by the manager on duty, who told me that “she wasn’t there” (to witness what transpired). I thanked her for the “offer” but politely refused them! This is not the first time I have been insulted in this theater…………. It is odd to me how we have NEVER had to file a complaint against the other theaters, we frequent. But I will take the blame for this one ( had guarded reservations about going because of the messy atmosphere), I admit I compromised for the short distance to travel…………..I WILL NEVER RETURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well some of the fans of the Facebook page had their own comments.
  • I don't need to read the comment to know that 87th Street is the pits. 
  • I just hate that our people are notorious for bad customer service. Our ancestors raised us better.
  • I don't know what happened because from the very beginning the community stressed to the Mr. & Mrs Starks (owners) that customer service has to be on point.
  • I love the convenience of the theater and their matinee prices.
Let me just say first and foremost that I'm a longtime customer of this cinema since they opened in 1997. In fact one of the first movies I have seen there was Tomorrow Never Dies. It was great to not have to travel halfway across the Chicago area just to see a movie.

In fact years ago the theater of choice was Ford City and then the day I found out Chatham 14 were being built my family started going there instead.

To see people talk about customer service at our neighborhood cinema is a bit troubling. Of course you're talking to a guy who hasn't made many trips to a movie house in some time. As a matter of fact the last time I went to Chatham 14 was to see Star Trek.

I write about this especially if you look at our counterparts over at Sloopin'. They've been talking about the Showplace Icon Theaters at the Roosevelt Collection on Roosevelt Road. These theaters caters to more of an adult clientele and is likely a great place to bring a date. Especially if you wanted to do a movie, dinner and a date.

I see in this Chicago Defender article from 2008 that ICE wanted to expand the theater to include a restaurant. Of course if they have some work to do on customer service then would there be any business for the Chatham 14?

QUESTIONS: Do you have any complaints about the Chatham 14 theaters? Is there anything positive you would like to say about our neighborhood movie house? Do you like them, dislike them, or what would you do to change them?

7 comments:

  1. I too have had issues with ICE and we had a discussion on Concerned Citizens of Chatham several months ago and with similar coments.

    It pains me because the Starks are a son & daughter of Chatham. Mr. Starks a Cole park basketball legend and Western Illinois standout and his wife was his high school sweethart.

    There was a lot of nay sayers (i.e. CBA) who refused to support the Starks when they announced they wanted to open the theater.But the community and City of Chicago supported and welcomed them. As well there were a number of discussions about training and hiring young people from the community. As well as actual training that took place to prepare the workers.

    I make those comments along with the expectation that they would be the standard and set the the bar for customer service. I have had conversations with the Starks as well as heard them at community meetings and know that they are passionate about this theater compared to the others they have had because they still have family members in the community.

    So I think at this point all the concerns and comments need to be escalated past the management and directly to them. I believe the Alderman's office and several of the CBO presidents have contact information for the Starks.

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  2. Why wouldn't CBA get behind ICE cinemas?

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  3. The leaders of CBA at the time felt that the Starks should take on partners who happened to be CBA members. When the Starks didn't bow to these extortion tactics CBA started a negative campaign to discredit them.

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  4. i haven't had any problems with ICE...but i usually go early in the day. ANY movie theater on a weekend night will be chaotic.

    My wife has mentioned to me that she appreciates having a African American theater, because it has a much different feel than "whiter" theaters , exspecially when movies like "Precious" play.

    i am surprised no one has mentioend the special events at ICE, many of which happen on Thursday night (such as those hosted by WVON personalities), or the recent "Princess and the Frog" event.

    My one suggestion: partner with area restauant to create "Movie Night Outs"...so for one price, you get dinner & a movie. Maybe even a drive from the theater to the restaurant (like Amry & Lou's, with limited parking) and back. It could create some synergy for neighbrohood business.

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  5. Last year I decided to inquire as to any employment opportunities. Then they promptly put me on their e-mail list. I got one notice of a special event and then nothing since then. They should advertise. It wasn't until I saw a report on WBBM-TV that I knew they were showing Obama's inauguration.

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  6. I know that they have been active in attempting to find a restaurant chain to build on the outlot there. They had a tentative agreement from Applebee's several years ago but Evergreen Plaza offered a better deal. Because of their problem attracting a sit down restaurant to that site it leads me to question why everyone thinks that Walmart is going to spur a great amount of development.

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  7. That's a bit disappointing. They could just have a partnership with a neighborhood restaurant. Either the Quench restaurants or even as JP said Army & Lou's. If this is a black-owned movie theater then they should attempt to cater to that clientele. Of course that's not to say they shouldn't have a diverse menu.

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