$4.00 - Children, Seniors & Matinee
Phone: 319-377-4555
for more information
Movies for $4-5??? Only at Collins Road!
We are Cedar Rapids area's only locally-owned movie theatre. We bring you movies that haven't otherwise been available in the Cedar Rapids area in the past and also the best in second-run hits. We do it CHEAPER and BETTER than any of the full-priced theatres in town.
All of the prices are cheaper, not just tickets. We won't gouge you at the concession stand, either. Everything is cheaper, we have a much better selection and it's the ONLY theatre in town where you can get REAL BUTTER, and it's self-serve!
So, if we are charging less, then we must be skimping somewhere, right? Not a bit! We've got top of the line sound systems, custom artwork in the lobby, completely remodeled, and the BEST customer service you will find!
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Rigid theater rules unfair to special-needs kid
I recently tried to take a child with autism to see a movie at the Collins Road Theatres in Cedar Rapids. Like most people, the child likes to have snacks during a movie. Before I bought our tickets, I explained that he was on a restricted diet and was not allowed to have any of the snacks they sold at the theater. I asked for permission to bring in his own snack. Other theaters we’ve been to in Cedar Rapids have always been willing to accommodate us. The Collins Road Theaters, however, flatly refused. We took our business that evening to another movie theater. If you are a person with special needs or you like to see movies with a person who has special needs, I would advise you to avoid the Collins Road Theatres. [name withheld for courtesy] Cedar Rapids |
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I am writing to rebut "Rigid theatre rules unfair to special-needs kid", Letters, 9/14. I am sorry that we were not able to meet the preferences of someone on a special diet. Our concession counter provides the largest selection of any theatre around at about half the price, but it is very difficult to suit every single person. It is unfortunate that the writer assumed that our policy was designed to discriminate against an autistic child. My own nephew is autistic and is on special diet restrictions to help control his symptoms. No business has a policy designed and intended to merely anger their customers. It did not occur to him that our policy was intended to protect the safety and comfort, with fairness, to the thousands of other people that came to Collins Road Theatres that weekend, including the writer himself. Every theatre has the same policy, but each applies it differently. Details of our policy and reasoning behind it can be found on our web page: www.collinsroadtheatres.com and click "About CRT". But it is downright unfair to try to warn the public away claiming that we are unfair to special-needs customers and untrue to imply it. We are the ONLY THEATRE IN IOWA who features captioned shows for deaf and narrated shows for blind. We have raised several thousands of dollars for MDA and thousands more for other charitable organizations, as well as provided hundreds of free or discounted shows to special-needs and charitable groups. Our involvement in special-needs and community activities is second to none. Bruce Taylor |
The incident the writer is referring to occurred on Labor Day weekend when this person wanted to bring a box of vanilla wafers into the auditorium. In our three years (almost) in business we have never had a customer get so upset as to write a letter to the newspaper. I have had some negative feedback about this incident, and some positive feedback, as well. At any rate, it deserves further explanation.
Please put this in proper perspective. We did not refuse admission to the child, and would not refuse admission to any person who wants to enjoy a movie, regardless of any special-need. We merely did not let him bring his own snack in. We generally don't make exceptions to the policy out of fairness to all of our customers, but please read on so you understand why this is the case. The writer did not ask for clarification of the policy and did not speak to me about it. He simply told the cashier he was taking his business elsewhere, and apparently did so, without caring why we had the policy in the first place.
Our policy on allowing outside food into the auditoriums is:
Collins Road Theatres does not allow any outside food, beverages, or containers into the auditoriums during any public showings.
Every movie theatre in the area has exactly the same policy, but according to the writer, they do not all apply it uniformly.
The reason behind this policy is customer safety and comfort. Movie theatres are a high-liability business because of the large number of people packed into a relatively confined, dark room for a fairly long time, and our insurance rates are very high because of it. We have to meet many additional building and fire codes to protect our patrons. Without a policy covering food and beverages from outside, some customers would bring items into the auditoriums that are unsafe such as glass bottles or cans. Glass bottles in a dark room with a concrete floor are an accident waiting to happen! Some will also will bring in items that are undesirable such as alcoholic beverages or messy and aromatic foods that create a comfort issue for other customers. Bubble gum and pizza are good examples. Cookies make little crumbs that are very hard to clean up completely and draw bugs if we leave any behind.
People generally assume that we are simply trying to protect our concession sales. Obviously, we would like everyone to visit the concession counter, but not everyone does. However, when we refuse to allow someone to bring in their own stuff, they seldom, if ever, buy anything from us, and in the extreme cases like the above writer, they take their business somewhere else. This policy costs the theatre money, but it is unfortunately a cost of doing business. We must bear it to protect the safety of our customers.
Could we allow items that are "safe" while rejecting things that aren't? In our environment, it is not practicable to do "cooler checks" like might be done at an outdoor concert. We don't have the room or the resources. Also, we have seen items that appear to be safe, such as a plastic bottle of water, only to find that the owner has filled it with vodka. Some foods don't seem dangerous, but are. Grapes are slicker than ice on a concrete floor! I know this from personal experience. We don’t have the resources to inspect every item that a customer might want to bring in, and I’m not about to sniff everyone’s water bottle to see if it contains liquor. People sneak stuff in under their coats or in a purse. How can we tell it if had been checked for safety?
If we allow some things, where do we draw the line? If we allow one person to bring cookies, then we must allow another to bring a sub sandwich, and then we have to allow another to bring a plate of spaghetti. If we allow soft drinks, then we have to allow beer (assuming legal age), if beer, then liquor as well. If we allow any food, then we must probably also allow any container. A person would want to bring glass bottles because he would promise to be careful and promise to clean up the mess if he broke it. (Yeah, right!) Because allowing one thing would lead to another, and without some clear point to draw the line, things would get out of hand. So the only fair thing to do could only be to not allow anything from outside, no food, no beverages, and no containers. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to find a snack they want at our counter and sadly those folks might have to do without.
We rarely, if ever, make any exceptions to this policy on public shows. This is to be fair to ALL of our customers. How would someone feel if we refused to allow them to bring in a box of cookies but then allowed someone else to bring in the same item for some good, but not apparent, reason? Experience has shown that the person who is refused will seldom assume that the other person must have had a good reason for being allowed, such as a special diet. On the contrary, we would really hear some harsh words from that person for not being fair and showing favoritism. People generally would not trust that we had a good reason for the allowance, just as the letter writer did not trust that we had a good reason for our policy in the first place. Therefore, it is only fair to apply the rule uniformly to everyone.
While we understand that our snack bar can not suit every taste and diet, good business practice dictates that we try to suite as many people as we can and hope that everyone can find something they like. We do have the best selection of any theatre that I know of and we have the very lowest prices for everything we offer. In some cases, it might be a matter of preference, like a preference of Pepsi over Coke. In others, we understand that some people can’t eat certain things, like popcorn or nuts or chocolate. In those cases the customers simply don’t buy something they don’t like or can’t eat.
I am genuinely hurt by the writer’s implication that we are not concerned about persons with special-needs or disabilities. His complaint was not with our policy itself, but with the fact that we did not break it for an autistic child.
- We are the ONLY theatre in
- The ONLY theatre in
- Raised $3,300 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, $1,300 of that in direct cash contributions from the theatre and the remainder from customer donations.
- Raised $1,202 for Marion Police K-9 Unit, over $700 of that in direct cash contributions from the theatre, remainder from customer donations.
- Donated $1,088 in direct cash to Marion Metro Kiwanis for ball fields at
- Held several free shows, with free popcorn and drinks for MDA families. All costs borne completely by the theatre and film royalties waived by the distributor.
- Host a “wishing well” in our lobby where 100% of money collected goes directly to Marion Metro Kiwanis for use in various community projects, about $100/month.
- Hosted the MDA fishbowl, the only one in
- Show free kids movies every summer, all summer long, as well as many school holidays.
- Hosted many, many free or discounted shows for local school groups and charitable organizations.
- Donated countless free passes and gift certificates for various charitable organizations for door prizes and awards.
- Run free or discounted screen ads on our screens for many local charitable or community groups.
(For information on making donation requests, click here)
And we have done all of the above while charging about half the price of other theatres in town. We appreciate the support we have had from our community, and are very proud to support the community in return. I live in Linn County. I am responsible to Linn County and surrounds, not Georgia or Missouri. We will continue to provide the best movie theatre Linn County has to offer. Thank you for everything!
Bruce Taylor
Owner/Manager
PS. Comments and ideas are welcome and invited. Please let me know what you think. You can email me at:
