Battered by COVID and ‘permanently damaged’ business model, Boise movie theater closes

After going dark for a year and then reopening last fall, a longtime Boise movie theater has lowered its curtain again.

This time, the credits have rolled permanently.

Country Club Reel Theatre, 4550 W. Overland Road, screened its final movies Dec. 30 before shuttering. The discount multiplex was a casualty of the pandemic, said Eric Denning, co-owner of the regional Reel Theatres chain.

“We haven’t been able to recover from the ramifications, businesswise, of COVID,” Denning said. “It’s not coming back. People just weren’t attending, unfortunately.”

Reel Theatres continues to run five multiplexes in Idaho, plus one in Richfield, Utah, one in Ontario, Oregon, and one in Anderson, California. Responding to the coronavirus, the chain temporarily halted operations in fall 2020. Over time, its theaters slowly came back to life, including Country Club Reel. It reopened Oct. 16, 2021, exactly one year after closing.

But management soon realized that Country Club was not showing signs of rebounding. “We can see as we opened our other locations, the trend lines and such,” Denning said. “This one just ... wasn’t making sense anymore.”

Opened in 1994 as Boise Reel, the six-screen theater offered first-run films during its first three years. When the larger, flashier Edwards 21 Cinemas debuted at the Boise Spectrum in 1997, Boise Reel pivoted to second-run movies and a discount model. Its name was changed to Country Club Reel in 2002.

Booking movies after they’ve already screened at first-run theaters, discount cinemas woo customers with lower prices. Country Club Reel charged $3 for general admission. But in an industry coping with smaller audiences and changed dynamics, cheap tickets weren’t enough of a draw.

Regarded as a discount brand in the Treasure Valley, Reel Theatres has branched into luxury moviegoing in recent years with its first-run Eagle Luxe and Caldwell Luxe locations.

Reel Theatres has no plans to close any of its other theaters, Denning said, “as of now. I can’t say yay or nay either way, really, going forward. But it seems like people are ready to go back to the movies in some cases.

“The discount theaters are a little bit tougher sell right now,” he added, “just because the studios are still kind of simultaneously releasing some of their products in streaming. Before the pandemic, we had a 90-day theatrical window that existed. And that doesn’t really exist anymore. It’s kind of been permanently damaged.”

On Thanksgiving weekend, Reel Theatres reopened the aging Northgate Reel, 6950 W. State St., as a first-run operation. The former discount theater offers the lowest prices for new movies in the Treasure Valley.

“It’s holding its own,” Denning said. “It’s got a long way to grow still, but we’re seeing good trends. I think people are liking it.”

The same couldn’t be said for Country Club Reel, despite its prior quarter-century of business. Speaking by phone, Denning was pragmatic about the situation.

“I’m actually over here right now. We’re talking about how to dismantle the place, unfortunately,” he said. “It’s not a very common occurrence.

“It’s sad, just because this was our first theater in Boise. We’ve got a lot of really cool memories over here — great memories over here — but it doesn’t make sense when it’s not working businesswise.”