Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Strike It Up - Union, NJ (ARCHIVE)
- 5 years ago
With the closure of the Union, New Jersey store coming up, I thought I'd upload a classic video you guys would love! This is a clip of the "Strike It Up" LIVE show filmed at the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza in Union, NJ. This was filmed in January 1997 and it was featured as an opening to an episode of The Rapid T. Rabbit Show that was released back then. Former CEC fan member Richard Concepcion was in this video performing as Rapid and he worked at the Union store from 1994 up until 2003. He unfortunately passed away in August 2017. Not only do I really wish he was still alive but I wish he was here to see Union's closure ;( I'm sure it would have been too sad for him and he's in a better place now
Union opened as a Pizza Time Theatre in August 1984. They were previously a movie theatre until it closed in the 70's. They we're a franchised owned location and housed a balcony stage and had all character walkarounds. They transferred to a 2-Stage in Early 1992 and also got remodeled to Phase 2. They remodeled to Phase 3 in the late 90's and eventually remodeled to Phase 4 in 2005. After phase 4 the entire look of the store was changed. They trashed the show and the bots that performed at the store for 20+ years in favor of a Studio C Beta, they added a gameroom and made the showroom smaller, diminished the SkyTubes and put them at the back of the store instead of the front, moved the cashier and prize counter to the front of the store and much more. They haven't remodeled since but it was planned for them to get 2.0 soon. That is until they got the news that the city of Union wants to tear down the motel AND this building in favor of new stores. A lot of people in Union are upset bc there aren't really any nearby stores, the second closest cec to Union is Staten Island so yeah no one's traveling that far to go to CEC. There's a note on the door that says they will be a new store that is TBA. Union will truly be missed by many fans but mostly me. This was the very first CEC I ever went to. I've been here many times and shared great memories and many parties here.
So if anybody plans on visiting, the last day is tomorrow November 17, 2019.
© 2019 Big Chuck Productions
Union opened as a Pizza Time Theatre in August 1984. They were previously a movie theatre until it closed in the 70's. They we're a franchised owned location and housed a balcony stage and had all character walkarounds. They transferred to a 2-Stage in Early 1992 and also got remodeled to Phase 2. They remodeled to Phase 3 in the late 90's and eventually remodeled to Phase 4 in 2005. After phase 4 the entire look of the store was changed. They trashed the show and the bots that performed at the store for 20+ years in favor of a Studio C Beta, they added a gameroom and made the showroom smaller, diminished the SkyTubes and put them at the back of the store instead of the front, moved the cashier and prize counter to the front of the store and much more. They haven't remodeled since but it was planned for them to get 2.0 soon. That is until they got the news that the city of Union wants to tear down the motel AND this building in favor of new stores. A lot of people in Union are upset bc there aren't really any nearby stores, the second closest cec to Union is Staten Island so yeah no one's traveling that far to go to CEC. There's a note on the door that says they will be a new store that is TBA. Union will truly be missed by many fans but mostly me. This was the very first CEC I ever went to. I've been here many times and shared great memories and many parties here.
So if anybody plans on visiting, the last day is tomorrow November 17, 2019.
© 2019 Big Chuck Productions