Glendale’s Galaxy Theatres shows its final film

Galaxy Theatres in the Glendale Marketplace screened its final movie last Friday before closing up shop, a move that comes just a few months after the owner of the outdoor plaza’s anchor store, Old Navy, announced it was leaving.

Galaxy opened in the four-screen, 35,700-square-foot-theater in February 2012 in space that formerly housed Mann Theatres.

Officials for Cypress Equities, which owns the Marketplace, said they have yet to decide what to do with the space that Galaxy Theatres leaves behind, but it would be a part of an overall plan for the shopping center’s future.

“There is a vision, but we are not at a point to discuss the direction just yet,” said Kristina Trujillo, corporate portfolio marketing director for the company, in an email.

A representative for Galaxy Theatres chain could not be reached for comment.

A second-floor cinema has been a part of the Marketplace since it opened in the late 1990s.

But even discount ticket prices couldn’t save Galaxy Theatres from newer theaters such as the Pacific Theatres at the Americana at Brand and the opening of Five Star Cinema with its plush seats and in-theater dining options, said Philip Lanzafame, the city’s director of economic development.

“A second-floor theater is tough,” he said. “As Cypress repositions, my guess is they would look for a strong tenant on the second floor as opposed to finding another second-tier operator.”

But some patrons said they enjoyed catching a flick at Galaxy Theatres because it was more low-key and less crowded than the newer cinemas, though that attribute likely hurt business.

“The place rarely packed in an audience, and I can remember a few times when there were less than a dozen people in the theater,” said local resident Chuck Weiss.

The closure of the Marketplace’s Old Navy store was followed shortly after by the announcement that DSW, a designer shoe warehouse, would be taking its place.