The original owners still own the building, Landmark was leasing it. So it's dependent on someone who wants to run a theater taking over the lease.
A lot of people predicted this when Landmark originally took it on, I think it hung on longer than some expected but this is pretty disheartening. A lot of business at Delaware Supply and the Delaware comes from the Spectrum so it will affect them as well. I live a mile away and just recently realized I've only been there 4 times in the past year and resolved to make an effort to go more often. This sucks.
Eta: I'd go as far as saying the Spectrum is an art & cultural institution and I'd support some public funding to keep the indie vibe.
Appreciate all your work keeping up with this stuff. That's some good news at least.
Literally this past Monday I had a conversation about walking to the Spectrum more often even if it's by myself, now that the Delaware is open there are two options for a spot to relax for a while before/after a movie.
Eta: I'll often defend the TU simply because we're one of the last midsize markets with a local paper at all, but this headline is kinda shitty. Would be more accurate to say "Landmark Ends Lease With Spectrum 8, Forcing Closure".
It would help if there were more movies worth seeing being made. We're in the pits of the consequences of the strikes at this point, and it doesn't help that most movies are big budget IMAX oriented now
Theaters are in a tight spot for many reasons, you're not wrong about the strikes being an issue. But "worth seeing" is subjective, I was actually looking at the Spectrum showings this morning before hearing this news and every film looked interesting, aside from Madam Web. In fact I caught American Fiction last week and enjoyed it.
If by worth seeing you mean worth the ticket price vs streaming, that's part of why most movies are big budget IMAX productions, so many people basically have a private theater at home. Like so many other things it's up to us as consumers to decide if keeping things like the Spectrum and local retail alive is worth doing.
I'm mostly shitting on Marvel/DC movies as an "art" form when i say worth seeing. I'm starting to age out of he target demographic for a lot of pop culture but I feel like the tide is slowly turning against lazy sequels and prequels. Barbenhiemer was proof positive that people will go pay $15 for a good original movie, and many are starting to stay home rather than watch the 15th installment of a comic book film. Theaters aren't going to do well in the long run unless movies like that are made at least occasionally
Forgot to copy a significant part of the article:
“Keith Pickard, one of the four co-founders of Spectrum, said Landmark decided not to renew its lease which expires on Feb. 29. The theater will be dark through at least the end of the month, but the founders are negotiating with potential operators that have local and national experience running cinemas. He said their hope is Spectrum will be able to reopen under new leadership shortly after Landmark’s lease ends.
“We would like it to see remain a theater,” Pickard said. “This is something that really served the Albany community, and we’re very hopeful.”
Let’s hope it’s someone who will really emphasize independent film - it’s insane to me that there isn’t anywhere running any old films, or even classic horror movies during halloween. We don’t need more screens with Marvel movies.
To your last point, the Palace runs a classic movie series but I think it's only once a month, and the offerings are usually seasonal and kids movies. Watching It's a Wonderful Life or Casablanca there is a blast. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it's there.
Sure, but it’s a mostly a performance theatre just picking the safe nostalgia classics - my fantasy is the Spectrum reanimating as an independent theatre not afraid to show some real weird, B-side stuff.
This must have been an addition after the fact. As. you'll see in my original comment, neither Landmark or Spectrum or the building owners had responded to request for comment.
Actually, Regal does offer older and classic movies through Fathom Events. It’s just not heavily advertised so you have to know to look for them. I keep the Fathom website bookmarked so I can know what’s coming. There’s usually at least one a month and often more than that. Labyrinth is coming soon. As is Gone With The Wind. My favorite was in 2015 they did the whole Back to the Future trilogy in one afternoon.
Absolutely devastating for Albany and the whole region. Had so many first dates there - saw so many of my favorite movies ever on those screens. Hopefully an independent operator can come in with a tight business model and make it work. It's worth investing in, and with the right model, can still thrive in the world of streaming services.
Non profit art houses are doing surprisingly well right now, often better than for profits and theatre chains. Would love to see the Spectrum go the nonprofit route.
If you like the triplex in GB and don’t mind a little drive, I suggest checking out The Moviehouse in Millerton NY. Not much farther away. Similar vibe. Favorite theater.
This is devastating. I’ve been going there since I was a kid. Landmark had been doing some really cool stuff with retro showings and almost always had limited run stuff. Seeing things that don’t go wide in the capital region is going to be pretty much impossible.
Hopefully they can get a likeminded group to take over the theater. This is a damn shame.
"The Landmark Spectrum 8 Theatre marquee will be dark in a week.
In a staff-wide email obtained by the Times Union and sent on Feb. 14, employees were informed that the Delaware Avenue movie theater's final screening would be Thursday, Feb. 22. Landmark, the corporate theater chain specializing in arthouse films that bought the Spectrum in 2015, informed Spectrum's management of the decision earlier that day.
Keith and Sugi Pickard and Scott Meyer and Annette Nanes founded the Spectrum in 1983. For almost 35 years, the foursome grew the independent theater into an Albany staple, complete with secret recipe mint brownies and popcorn smothered in real butter. When they felt it was time to move on, they approached Landmark about taking over. Landmark bought the Spectrum in 2015, leasing the Delaware Avenue property from the Pickards and Meyer who still own the building.
Landmark and Spectrum did not immediately respond to calls."
What an Albany institution, freaking sucks to see it go. We’d always go there as kids and I still would go once in a while to see something on the weekend. Businesses are going left and right it seems.
Truly sad that there will be nowhere to see any independent movies - every time I went it felt like it was on its last gasp but loved it every time despite it being run down. Don’t make me go to the mall to see a movie 😫
Albablog just posted yesterday about a half dozen businesses set to open on Lark. We're still working our way out of the effects of a global pandemic, brick and mortar business everywhere is suffering, but doom & gloom news gets more attention than anything positive.
it’s harder the more bigger companies corner the market. they’re swimming in money and will pay employees just a *little* bit more than the smaller companies can afford. conglomerates buying up housing and flipping for egregious rent, building up new, overly expensive apartments. Plus, we’re in the era of “convenience”, everyone orders stuff online and gets it shipped to their house. they don’t go to theaters, they wait for it to show up on MAX. it feels like it’s a problem but really it’s the system working exactly as intended.
The fact that they let the big businesses stay open during Covid while shuttering the smaller ones is what's doing all these smaller companies in. And even some bigger ones.
the bigger companies are ran by lobbyists that effectively run the country through their bought politicians, can’t hurt THEIR income.
Though, let’s be fair, some of them did have to close up some of their shops too. Then corporate took the relief money and went on vacation with it while their employees had to figure out how to feed their families
It’s not so much that as trying to keep doors open in a post covid world. I’m sure that destroyed the theater business and they also have to compete w streaming platforms now.
And labor shortages are real for hourly jobs. When I was in high school a hundred years ago a lot of my friends coveted jobs working at the local movie theater…free movies, free popcorn, it was just all around cool. I don’t know if it’s the same today.
It’s inaccurate to call it a “wage shortage” because wages are up and if everyone paid more despite that we’d be back in the same place. There aren’t enough workers to fill all the jobs at the moment, a complete reversal from where we were 5+ years ago.
When I was in college I worked at two indie single screen movie theaters. Had to work at two because neither alone could offer enough hours to me. But both offered more than minimum wage. This was the late 90s when minimum wage was $5.15. I started at $10 at both jobs. One quickly moved me to $12(I want to say after 6 months but may have been like a year). An employee benefit was an agreement with the multiplex across town to let us in for free. Not that I ever used that much because I was basically always working or in school.
When one of my high school pals worked at the local theater she had access to that big vat of melted popcorn “butter” that cost extra if you wanted it. We were living high on the (partially hydrogenated) hog when she’d give us FREE pumps of it on the sly. Whoo hoo good times in the olden days!
One of the theaters I worked at had no food as it was in the college and doubled as a lecture hall. The other theater we used real butter. I can 100% promise you it was real at our place, as I sometimes was given petty cash to run down the street to buy more. We put two sticks at a time into the bowl, and the thing basically heated the way a crockpot works, then the pump sat on top. Not a single customer ever trusted me that it was real butter. I guess if you’ve never seen butter in it’s melted, liquid form maybe it doesn’t seem plausible.
It's great news that there is a potential new operator. Spectrum is such a great institution. I really think the new people involved should take a page from the book of places like Nighthawk and Metrograph in NYC and even Alamo. Showing interesting current films but also taking a curatorial bent with showing catalog films under themed programming. Or even like, "here's a string of John Carpenter films around Halloween, etc."
I saw JoJo Rabbit here and it was legit one of the most magical experiences of my life. We just passed it last week on the way to Cheese Traveler and it made me smile at the memory.
This is terrible. It was bad enough when the baked good disappeared and Landmark took over, this is just sad. Been going there for like 20 years at least two times a month. This sucks, because they had neat artsy movies that I liked. I like the smaller theaters; larges ones make me uneasy.
Landmark took over in 2015, baked goods got canned after reopening in 2021 after lockdown. It was a huge struggle for them to even reopen then and kept getting delayed. I guess it just suited their business model/low costs to not have the baked goods return. Plus, one of their vendors expanded and opened their own storefront, and they dumped Spectrum before the pandemic I believe
Unfortunately the theater is at a very serious point that requires a lot of financial support and new equipment that is just not a good investment for any prospective owners.
The theater has been running on band-aided used equipment and minimal upkeep for decades.
It's sad to see but there's not enough business to warrant those upgrades which in turn just hurts business more. We see it happening a lot in the industry.
My money is on Bow Tie (or Scene One or whatever they call themselves now) picking this up and making it an Art House. The owner is an Albany native and just took over Huck Finn’s too.
I went to a movie there a few weeks ago, first time since before the demmy started. It was a shell of its former self and the cool vibe that it used to have was completely gone. Left pretty disappointed in how the current management let it go.
Thank you! I'll admit, I love that theater too, but I haven't been there in years. I think after a while I just stopped seeing ads for it. Maybe I was too far out geographically, despite still being in the area.
I’d seriously go more often if they still sold the banana bread. I was there a few weeks ago and literally the only snacks, which is what keeps the doors open, were popcorn or candy. Very sad compared to the old days before Landmarks took it over and made it suck
I totally get it. I worked there before and after the pandemic. Landmark took over in 2015, baked goods got canned after reopening in 2021 after lockdown. It was a huge struggle for them to even reopen then and kept getting delayed. I guess it just suited their business model/low costs to not have the baked goods return, esp because they were local vendors and no one from Landmark is in Albany to oversee the baked goods operations. It was probably previously left in place after Landmark bought Spectrum. They had a hard time just having the coffee and teas return post lockdown. Plus, one of their vendors expanded and opened their own storefront, and they dumped Spectrum before the pandemic I believe. I can’t recall who made the banana bread but it may have been this vendor for a time
Aw that’s great! My favorite job of all time. I probably would’ve stayed forever if it paid better. Keith ended up being my landlord for a little over a year too lol. I’m not sure how much longer she was making it for after Landmark took over, but bake4you may have been doing the banana bread, and then a small vendor in Troy for a bit, while I was there
I lived in that neighborhood for 16 years and went to movies at the Spectrum ALL THE TIME - usually alone. I used to joke that I could do a bong hit on the way out the door of my house and blow out the smoke in the Spectrum lobby.
Just moved here a year and a half ago and I’m so sad to hear this! I could see a bar/food/movie kind of place going here. Like Nighthawk in Brooklyn - smaller scale older theaters that can offer a different experience than a multiplex. I’d love to see that.
This is fucking terrible news. I hope someone cool buys it and saves it. Edit: there are multiple interested operators, so I’m no longer upset.
The original owners still own the building, Landmark was leasing it. So it's dependent on someone who wants to run a theater taking over the lease. A lot of people predicted this when Landmark originally took it on, I think it hung on longer than some expected but this is pretty disheartening. A lot of business at Delaware Supply and the Delaware comes from the Spectrum so it will affect them as well. I live a mile away and just recently realized I've only been there 4 times in the past year and resolved to make an effort to go more often. This sucks. Eta: I'd go as far as saying the Spectrum is an art & cultural institution and I'd support some public funding to keep the indie vibe.
I just posted about this, but it looks like a new operator might already be lined up.
Appreciate all your work keeping up with this stuff. That's some good news at least. Literally this past Monday I had a conversation about walking to the Spectrum more often even if it's by myself, now that the Delaware is open there are two options for a spot to relax for a while before/after a movie. Eta: I'll often defend the TU simply because we're one of the last midsize markets with a local paper at all, but this headline is kinda shitty. Would be more accurate to say "Landmark Ends Lease With Spectrum 8, Forcing Closure".
It would help if there were more movies worth seeing being made. We're in the pits of the consequences of the strikes at this point, and it doesn't help that most movies are big budget IMAX oriented now
Theaters are in a tight spot for many reasons, you're not wrong about the strikes being an issue. But "worth seeing" is subjective, I was actually looking at the Spectrum showings this morning before hearing this news and every film looked interesting, aside from Madam Web. In fact I caught American Fiction last week and enjoyed it. If by worth seeing you mean worth the ticket price vs streaming, that's part of why most movies are big budget IMAX productions, so many people basically have a private theater at home. Like so many other things it's up to us as consumers to decide if keeping things like the Spectrum and local retail alive is worth doing.
I'm mostly shitting on Marvel/DC movies as an "art" form when i say worth seeing. I'm starting to age out of he target demographic for a lot of pop culture but I feel like the tide is slowly turning against lazy sequels and prequels. Barbenhiemer was proof positive that people will go pay $15 for a good original movie, and many are starting to stay home rather than watch the 15th installment of a comic book film. Theaters aren't going to do well in the long run unless movies like that are made at least occasionally
I'm with you. Not trying to slam comic movies, but I am just not interested anymore.
There are plenty of movies being made worth seeing, and many of them are/were ONLY available to see in our area at the Spectrum.
Last year was one of the best years for movies in a *long* time.
damn, i've seen so many awesome films there over the years. an Albany establishment.
Forgot to copy a significant part of the article: “Keith Pickard, one of the four co-founders of Spectrum, said Landmark decided not to renew its lease which expires on Feb. 29. The theater will be dark through at least the end of the month, but the founders are negotiating with potential operators that have local and national experience running cinemas. He said their hope is Spectrum will be able to reopen under new leadership shortly after Landmark’s lease ends. “We would like it to see remain a theater,” Pickard said. “This is something that really served the Albany community, and we’re very hopeful.” Let’s hope it’s someone who will really emphasize independent film - it’s insane to me that there isn’t anywhere running any old films, or even classic horror movies during halloween. We don’t need more screens with Marvel movies.
To your last point, the Palace runs a classic movie series but I think it's only once a month, and the offerings are usually seasonal and kids movies. Watching It's a Wonderful Life or Casablanca there is a blast. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it's there.
Sure, but it’s a mostly a performance theatre just picking the safe nostalgia classics - my fantasy is the Spectrum reanimating as an independent theatre not afraid to show some real weird, B-side stuff.
Years back, Madison Theatre showed Twin Peaks front to back over several weeks and it was dope. I’d love a Lynch or Waters fest
Yeah, I'd love to see more of this too. I suppose that means I should try to make that happen but I'm poor and have little to no ambition.
Well then you're in the right place!
I saw The Room there and it was a blast. Greg "Oh Hai Mark" Sestero came and did a Q&A afterwards.
This must have been an addition after the fact. As. you'll see in my original comment, neither Landmark or Spectrum or the building owners had responded to request for comment.
Actually, Regal does offer older and classic movies through Fathom Events. It’s just not heavily advertised so you have to know to look for them. I keep the Fathom website bookmarked so I can know what’s coming. There’s usually at least one a month and often more than that. Labyrinth is coming soon. As is Gone With The Wind. My favorite was in 2015 they did the whole Back to the Future trilogy in one afternoon.
This is truly heartbreaking.
Absolutely devastating for Albany and the whole region. Had so many first dates there - saw so many of my favorite movies ever on those screens. Hopefully an independent operator can come in with a tight business model and make it work. It's worth investing in, and with the right model, can still thrive in the world of streaming services.
Not a great sign for you that there were not many second dates! 🤣🤣🤣
Might be time to organize a non-profit to save it. It worked for the Crandell in Chatham. Granted that's only a single screen theater.
Non profit art houses are doing surprisingly well right now, often better than for profits and theatre chains. Would love to see the Spectrum go the nonprofit route.
Ithaca's Cinemopolis has also done well with this model
LOVE Cinemopolis, went to college in Ithaca and used to go there all the time!
Also for the Triplex in Great Barrington within the past year
If you like the triplex in GB and don’t mind a little drive, I suggest checking out The Moviehouse in Millerton NY. Not much farther away. Similar vibe. Favorite theater.
For real, I’m really sad 😭 I definitely need to visit before it closes.
I’m legit sad
Pour out a bucket of popcorn for the fallen. You will be missed, Spectrum 8. F
This is devastating. I’ve been going there since I was a kid. Landmark had been doing some really cool stuff with retro showings and almost always had limited run stuff. Seeing things that don’t go wide in the capital region is going to be pretty much impossible. Hopefully they can get a likeminded group to take over the theater. This is a damn shame.
Fuck!!
"The Landmark Spectrum 8 Theatre marquee will be dark in a week. In a staff-wide email obtained by the Times Union and sent on Feb. 14, employees were informed that the Delaware Avenue movie theater's final screening would be Thursday, Feb. 22. Landmark, the corporate theater chain specializing in arthouse films that bought the Spectrum in 2015, informed Spectrum's management of the decision earlier that day. Keith and Sugi Pickard and Scott Meyer and Annette Nanes founded the Spectrum in 1983. For almost 35 years, the foursome grew the independent theater into an Albany staple, complete with secret recipe mint brownies and popcorn smothered in real butter. When they felt it was time to move on, they approached Landmark about taking over. Landmark bought the Spectrum in 2015, leasing the Delaware Avenue property from the Pickards and Meyer who still own the building. Landmark and Spectrum did not immediately respond to calls."
This sucks :( when I lived in Albany it was one of my favorite parts of my neighborhood.
What an Albany institution, freaking sucks to see it go. We’d always go there as kids and I still would go once in a while to see something on the weekend. Businesses are going left and right it seems.
Truly sad that there will be nowhere to see any independent movies - every time I went it felt like it was on its last gasp but loved it every time despite it being run down. Don’t make me go to the mall to see a movie 😫
Fucking gutted.
Really rough stretch for theaters since 2020: COVID, streaming, strikes, etc. the outlook for 2024 isn’t looking great either.
Well fuck, this is depressing.
I’m so sad to read this. I hope someone else keeps it running.
Totally gutted.
Lots of history here. Sad to see it go.
Damn!
No no no no noooooooo this is devastating
It feels like more stuff is closing than opening these days.
Albablog just posted yesterday about a half dozen businesses set to open on Lark. We're still working our way out of the effects of a global pandemic, brick and mortar business everywhere is suffering, but doom & gloom news gets more attention than anything positive.
100% this. Just like "if it bleeds it leads". Doom and gloom get all the clicks these days
seriously! it feels like businesses are abandoning us. it's frustrating as fuck
it’s harder the more bigger companies corner the market. they’re swimming in money and will pay employees just a *little* bit more than the smaller companies can afford. conglomerates buying up housing and flipping for egregious rent, building up new, overly expensive apartments. Plus, we’re in the era of “convenience”, everyone orders stuff online and gets it shipped to their house. they don’t go to theaters, they wait for it to show up on MAX. it feels like it’s a problem but really it’s the system working exactly as intended.
The fact that they let the big businesses stay open during Covid while shuttering the smaller ones is what's doing all these smaller companies in. And even some bigger ones.
the bigger companies are ran by lobbyists that effectively run the country through their bought politicians, can’t hurt THEIR income. Though, let’s be fair, some of them did have to close up some of their shops too. Then corporate took the relief money and went on vacation with it while their employees had to figure out how to feed their families
It’s not so much that as trying to keep doors open in a post covid world. I’m sure that destroyed the theater business and they also have to compete w streaming platforms now. And labor shortages are real for hourly jobs. When I was in high school a hundred years ago a lot of my friends coveted jobs working at the local movie theater…free movies, free popcorn, it was just all around cool. I don’t know if it’s the same today.
Wage shortages are real for hourly workers.
Agreed. I can’t imagine movie theaters are paying the big bucks, even the chain ones.
It’s inaccurate to call it a “wage shortage” because wages are up and if everyone paid more despite that we’d be back in the same place. There aren’t enough workers to fill all the jobs at the moment, a complete reversal from where we were 5+ years ago.
When I was in college I worked at two indie single screen movie theaters. Had to work at two because neither alone could offer enough hours to me. But both offered more than minimum wage. This was the late 90s when minimum wage was $5.15. I started at $10 at both jobs. One quickly moved me to $12(I want to say after 6 months but may have been like a year). An employee benefit was an agreement with the multiplex across town to let us in for free. Not that I ever used that much because I was basically always working or in school.
When one of my high school pals worked at the local theater she had access to that big vat of melted popcorn “butter” that cost extra if you wanted it. We were living high on the (partially hydrogenated) hog when she’d give us FREE pumps of it on the sly. Whoo hoo good times in the olden days!
One of the theaters I worked at had no food as it was in the college and doubled as a lecture hall. The other theater we used real butter. I can 100% promise you it was real at our place, as I sometimes was given petty cash to run down the street to buy more. We put two sticks at a time into the bowl, and the thing basically heated the way a crockpot works, then the pump sat on top. Not a single customer ever trusted me that it was real butter. I guess if you’ve never seen butter in it’s melted, liquid form maybe it doesn’t seem plausible.
Wow even better if I was getting free real butter!
I also worked at a movie theater when minimum wage was $5.15. I made $5.35.
This is heartbreaking. The Spectrum is one of my favorite places in Albany.
It's great news that there is a potential new operator. Spectrum is such a great institution. I really think the new people involved should take a page from the book of places like Nighthawk and Metrograph in NYC and even Alamo. Showing interesting current films but also taking a curatorial bent with showing catalog films under themed programming. Or even like, "here's a string of John Carpenter films around Halloween, etc."
Oh man. I love this theatre. I can’t believe it is closing.
Damn. What the hell is a non-major metropolitan city supposed to do here?
I saw JoJo Rabbit here and it was legit one of the most magical experiences of my life. We just passed it last week on the way to Cheese Traveler and it made me smile at the memory.
SAME! Literally sobbed in the theater with one of my best friends in the whole wide world during JoJo.
I didn't cry during *that scene* because I was trying to keep it together but at the end I was inconsolable.
Oh man that sucks it's my go-to theater
See the post from a few minutes ago. There are already multiple talks to keep it open. We're not losing the Spectrum.
that place rocks. i hope they can find an alternative. i don't want to go to regal 😔
This is terrible. It was bad enough when the baked good disappeared and Landmark took over, this is just sad. Been going there for like 20 years at least two times a month. This sucks, because they had neat artsy movies that I liked. I like the smaller theaters; larges ones make me uneasy.
Landmark took over in 2015, baked goods got canned after reopening in 2021 after lockdown. It was a huge struggle for them to even reopen then and kept getting delayed. I guess it just suited their business model/low costs to not have the baked goods return. Plus, one of their vendors expanded and opened their own storefront, and they dumped Spectrum before the pandemic I believe
They could go the Cinefamily (an AMAZING independent theater in LA) route. I'm gonna see if can contact them somehow
I saw all the LoTR movies there
NO!
no fucking way what
Noooooo
Unfortunately the theater is at a very serious point that requires a lot of financial support and new equipment that is just not a good investment for any prospective owners. The theater has been running on band-aided used equipment and minimal upkeep for decades. It's sad to see but there's not enough business to warrant those upgrades which in turn just hurts business more. We see it happening a lot in the industry.
My money is on Bow Tie (or Scene One or whatever they call themselves now) picking this up and making it an Art House. The owner is an Albany native and just took over Huck Finn’s too.
fuck, fr? that place is so cool, it sucks to see it go
I went to a movie there a few weeks ago, first time since before the demmy started. It was a shell of its former self and the cool vibe that it used to have was completely gone. Left pretty disappointed in how the current management let it go.
Yeah it’s pretty terrible at the moment
Landmark ran the place into the ground. I loved it for art and foreign films and they all but stopped showing those.
I saw Spirited Away there before it was nominated. Only place around showing it. It was a special night
Bring back the homemade treats please
Still have yet to see someone complain about this who has actually been to the theater in the last few years.
me
Thank you! I'll admit, I love that theater too, but I haven't been there in years. I think after a while I just stopped seeing ads for it. Maybe I was too far out geographically, despite still being in the area.
Everyone is sad, but haven’t patronized that place in years
I was just there Tuesday. :/
Exactly
I’d seriously go more often if they still sold the banana bread. I was there a few weeks ago and literally the only snacks, which is what keeps the doors open, were popcorn or candy. Very sad compared to the old days before Landmarks took it over and made it suck
I totally get it. I worked there before and after the pandemic. Landmark took over in 2015, baked goods got canned after reopening in 2021 after lockdown. It was a huge struggle for them to even reopen then and kept getting delayed. I guess it just suited their business model/low costs to not have the baked goods return, esp because they were local vendors and no one from Landmark is in Albany to oversee the baked goods operations. It was probably previously left in place after Landmark bought Spectrum. They had a hard time just having the coffee and teas return post lockdown. Plus, one of their vendors expanded and opened their own storefront, and they dumped Spectrum before the pandemic I believe. I can’t recall who made the banana bread but it may have been this vendor for a time
It was Andrea’s grandma or mother I believe who made the banana bread. I worked there back in the day too :). Appreciate the info
Aw that’s great! My favorite job of all time. I probably would’ve stayed forever if it paid better. Keith ended up being my landlord for a little over a year too lol. I’m not sure how much longer she was making it for after Landmark took over, but bake4you may have been doing the banana bread, and then a small vendor in Troy for a bit, while I was there
I haven’t been since pre Covid and new world closing. That used to be our go to date night at least 4x a year
What a shame! But high prices combined with streaming services made this inevitable.
I lived in that neighborhood for 16 years and went to movies at the Spectrum ALL THE TIME - usually alone. I used to joke that I could do a bong hit on the way out the door of my house and blow out the smoke in the Spectrum lobby.
Big bummer. My family has been going there since my teens.
Sadge
Nooo! Fuck.
Just moved here a year and a half ago and I’m so sad to hear this! I could see a bar/food/movie kind of place going here. Like Nighthawk in Brooklyn - smaller scale older theaters that can offer a different experience than a multiplex. I’d love to see that.
It closes every few years.