Your letters: ‘Blue collar’ label misleads

Posted August 31, 2009 at 4:26 pm and filed under Opinion.

The following letter was sent to the News and Observer Aug. 14 but was not published:

A comment in the “Theater converts to cheap seats” article (Wednesday, Aug. 5), attributed to a Carolina Cinemas spokeswoman, stated that the reason for Towne Square 10 changing to a second-run movie operation was because Garner was a “blue-collar community.” The N&O added insult to injury by highlighting the quote in the paper’s overheard column on the Sunday briefing page.

Had the paper bothered to check, it would have found that the real reason for the theater’s move was because the newer and more luxurious White Oak Cinemas — with the rocking chair seats, cup holders, stadium seating and state-of-the-art picture and sound — is getting the first-run business and is not having to cut prices at all.

The Carolina Cinemas spokeswoman was simply trying to make excuses for not being able to compete — and the N&O bought it.

That should really help the N&O’s efforts to compete in our community with the Garner-Clayton Record when we already have two weeklies. It’s no wonder to Garner residents the N&O is having problems with its paper when they insult us like this.

George F. Rucker Jr.
Garner

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2 Responses for “Your letters: ‘Blue collar’ label misleads”

  1. Lisa Jeffries says:
    August 31, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    While I am excited about having a $2.00 theatre close by, I commented on the N&O article: “Personal pet peeve: When people in Charlotte (or worse, across the country) make “fact” statements without knowing anything from experience about Garner or Raleigh. [Garner is a blue-collar kind of community, where every penny matters even more,'' said Hope Branch, district manager for Carolina Cinemas in Charlotte. "If you get enough people through the door, that's a lot of $2 tickets."]

    However, I am excited about a $2.00 theater being so close!”

    George is absolutely correct. Whether or not the business decision had anything to do with the area’s “blue collar” community (data??), what it all boils down to is business economics and the fact that there is a newer, more modern theatre within competitive distance. Why dump millions into competing when you can appeal to a different movie market and probably profit at a much higher rate of return?

  2. Wanda Nicholson says:
    September 28, 2009 at 12:06 am

    An excellent letter. I had sent a letter to the corporate office (no response received) articulating basically the same points. I also, in a recent address to the Town Council, referenced this insulting attitude and suggested that a good focus for the new Economic Development Dept. would be to address misconceptions such as these along with working with real estate agents to better market the area and discourage ads such as one I recently saw that said “whether you’re buying a fixer upper in Garner or a new home in Wake Forest…” Also suggested was to work the agents who undervalue/undermarket some neighborhoods just to get quick sales – selling houses $40 – $50 thousand below tax value is abominable.

    Garner deserves and should demand better. Thanks Mr. Rucker for speaking up about this issue.

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