By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
Between bankruptcy and COVID-19, it looks like downtown’s GQT Oxford 7 movie theater has closed for good.
On the afternoon of March 24, the GQT Oxford 7 Facebook page posted this message:
“To Our Community: We regret to inform you that we are shutting down for good. We’ve enjoyed many years serving up popcorn and the latest movies, and we hope you’ve all had some great memories with us. We hope for the best for all of our amazing employees, and to everyone, we extend our deepest apologies. We just have one last thing to say…Roll the credits!”
A collage of staff photos from over the years was included in the post.
By Wednesday morning, the post had been deleted. A new message replaced it:
“Goodrich Quality Theaters (GQT) is currently closed in light of the mandated COVID-19 shutdown. We wish our customers and business partners safety during these unprecedented circumstances. With any luck, new movies will be back on the screens with the popcorn popping! We will continue to make any further updates as we know more.”
This caused much confusion in the comments section.
Folks speculated that the second post was pre-scheduled. The same message was posted to all GQT locations and on the website.
Former employees clarified the theater really was closing.
“I packed up all of my stuff this last Saturday and turned in my keys,” wrote Katie Marie Vantine, who had been a shift manager at the theater. “As far as all of the employees of this theater is concerned, WE WERE LET GO PERMANENTLY. We were told that we will not reopen after the COVID-19 shutdown.”
Vantine said her access to the theater’s Faceebook account was revoked, so she couldn’t see who made the new post.
Several folks reposted screenshots of the original post with the collage in the comments.
Phone calls and emails to the GQT Oxford 7 and Goodrich Quality Theaters headquarters were not returned.
Oxford 7’s parent company, Goodrich Quality Theaters filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 25. The Kentwood/Grand Rapids-based chain owns 30 theaters in Michigan and four other states.
Owner Bob Goodrich told MLive Feb. 28, he planned to sell most, but not all of his company’s properties in bankruptcy auction.
The company tried to keep all its locations open during the bankruptcy process. Then COVID-19 happened.
Oxford 7 attempted to stay open as long as possible, even after the schools had closed, until Governor Whitmer ordered all theaters to close from March 16 until at least March 31. A week later, Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order extended the date to at least April 14, effectively closing the theater for four weeks.
According to a March 4 report by Crain’s Detroit Business, Troy-based Emgaine Entertainment was trying to purchase the chain. Emagine did not respond to inquiries from this reporter.

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