Mini-Grand Cinema

The Mini-Grand Theatre was located in the Union Plaza shopping center in Cheshire. It was part of the fledgling United General Theatres circuit, this one to be operated by franchisee Cal Braunstein. This mini-theatre seated 133 patrons and was created during the suburban luxury theater era in which movie theaters were being built often near or in in strip shopping centers and malls outside of central business districts to take advantage of population shifts and free parking close to the theater’s front doors.

Despite 200 inked deals across the county, just 20 United General Theatres reportedly opened, and 69 others were in various stages of construction when the fraud was exposed. Four of the purported 30 (or 20 depending on which report you choose to believe) in New England were able to launch but, sadly, this one falls in the 69 not quite opened territory. United General Theatres filed bankruptcy in April of 1973 and this venue clearly couldn’t get the support it needed to open.

With the $15,000 franchise fee down the drain and removing (or never having received) its 16mm film projectors, the theatre launching was delayed until 1973. Louis Nero was able to open the tiny cinema with 35mm projection on June 20, 1973 with Walter Matthau in “Pete ‘n’ Tillie”. It lasted until November 20, 1973 closing with Barbra Streisand in “What’s Up, Doc?”.

Under a new operator, the venue came back on February 18, 1977 with Clint Eastwood in “The Enforcer". The venue was downgraded in early-June of 1977 to a discount, sub-run 99 cent location hoping to draw anyone from anywhere to the lightly trafficked venue. The Mini Grand (MG) closed after four weeks of its discount policy on June 30, 1977 with Glenda Jackson in “Nasty Habits". In total, the not-UG-MG venue took 18 months to go from construction to opening date. Its operational lifecycle was nine total months in parts of 1973 and 1977. Likely, it wasn’t worth the effort.

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