Tried the New Montgomery Drafthouse Yet? Too Late!
Only open since Oct. 10, the Montgomery Cinema & Drafthouse at Wheaton's Westfield Mall is already closing. This sister to the Arlington movies-and-chow theater took months to spiff up the rundown multiplex formerly occupied by Loews; on a recent visit, everything from the lobby bar to the bathrooms to the comfy houses themselves seemed shiny and new.
Perhaps because they'd barely been used — I was there on a Saturday for a 5:10 showing of Transporter 3, which at first was empty but eventually filled up with a whole five other people. I'm not even sure they weren't just workers bored out of their minds.
Why the sudden shutdown? The Drafthouse's email subscribers got this explanation today:
With great sadness and disappointment, we are forced to close the Montgomery Cinema & Drafthouse. Our family has poured our heart & soul and resources into opening this location, with the hope of providing great entertainment to the Wheaton and Montgomery County community.
In our opinion, we were not prepared for the conduct by Westfield and, in our opinion, the anti-small business nature of Montgomery County's permit process. We simply could not overcome the excessive costs in money and time that was required to deal with these two overwhelming negative forces. Couple these challenges with a worsening economy and national capital crisis – and the result was a perfect economic storm which was too much to bear.
After being open for 2 1/2 months – Westfield refused to pay the remaining balance on the construction allowance. The bitter irony is that we were evicted by a company that in our opinion owed us more money than we owed them. Our only hope is that Westfield does the right thing and promptly pays the remaining construction allowance (that they failed to release to us) to the builder and contractors who deserve full payment.
More details are to come, but for now our family needs some time to recover and focus on our Arlington location. Arlington will remain open and please join us there for your Drafthouse fun. Best of luck to everyone this holiday season and let's hope next year is better than this year.
And another one bites the dust. Way to go, Westfield.
3:15 pm
Westfield may very well be to blame, but don't you think that, as a reporter, you should see what their side is rather than simply posting one side and agreeing with that side on the culprit?
3:40 pm
True - maybe the owner of Cinema and Drafthouse is a royal pain who didnt have enough money to finance this project?
3:49 pm
Westfield can not force people to go watch a movie there either. Maybe they should have had a better business plan.
6:24 pm
sorry to see a venue die, but if you still want to see live standup comedy(which the Drafthouse had as well as movies) there is a weekly Saturday nite standup show down in Bethesda:
Laugh Riot at the Hyatt
5 local comics
$25 cash prize joke contest for non-com audience members after the show
Every Saturday night
8 to 10 pm
$10 Cash Admission
Hyatt Regency Bethesda Hotel
One Bethesda Metro Center
7400 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-657-1234
http://www.Bethesda.Hyatt.com
http://www.StandupComedyToGo.com
11:41 pm
This isn't a reported piece, it's one lowly movie critic blogging her reaction to an email she received about a theater closing.
You're right, maybe Westfield isn't to blame, and I should have kept those last few words to myself. But I do find it difficult to believe that a long-standing business such as the Arlington Drafthouse would put so much time and energy (the renovation was pretty nice) into a project they didn't think they could sustain past the lean opening months.
2:45 pm
Did you ever go to the Montgomery Drafthouse? While the bar re renovation looked nice, people tht live here in Wheaton did not even know it was there. I saw signs in the mall about it, but I did not even see ads in the Gazette. I was excited about it opening, but questioned why they seemed to ignore the immediate area and try to pull people from outside of it.
9:46 pm
Perhaps the Cinema drafthouse would have gained more support if it weren't located in the ghetto.
10:19 am
The location was horrible!! I'm in Wheaton (hoping to move out soon) and I had no idea that it was open. Then again, putting a place like this in Wheaton is like putting it in Southeast. You really have to wonder why the people from Potomac, Rockville, etc didn't come?
I LIVE here and I won't go to that mall!
3:47 pm
I was so excited when I saw on their list of second run movies, for the week of December 21st-27th, the new James Bond film quantum of solace. I hadn't seen it first time through, and I had a roommate of mine chat up the quality of the Montgomery cinema/drafthouse. I wasn't horribly interested in Twilight, or the other films they were running, but I had been looking forward to Bond...c'est la vie. The saddest part of it, in my humble opinion, is that it was a venue trying to provide something new to an otherwise dingy area, but never got the feel of a, "local hang out," quite right. Wheaton could use some more class.
11:07 am
putting the Drafthouse in a "ghetto" was actually a brilliant move. If you study the history of successful businesses , 90% of them began in low-rent "ghettos" that then turned into artsy-bohemian hangouts, then turned into boutique-wealthy exclusive neighborhoods. The Drafthouse woulda/coulda been HUGE if they could have hung on long enough for that painfully slow but sure transition to take place.
4:12 pm
I'm not sure where you got your 90% from. But obviously in this case it was neither brilliant nor successful.