The multi- million dollar MOVIE TOWNE Tobago franchise faces possible closure due to constant losses and millions of dollars in refurbishment works needed to continue operations.
Word has come from owner Derek Chin, during an interview with TV6'S Elizabeth Williams.
00:00A possible closure of Movietown Tobago after over 10 years serving the people of Tobago.
00:08Confirmation has come from owner Derek Chin.
00:11Mr. Chin told TV6 News, Movietown Tobago has continued to struggle after the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:20Mr. Chin told TV6 News, in light of a number of equipment needed to be refurbished,
00:26costing millions of dollars, it does not make economic sense.
00:31He spoke exclusively with TV6 News.
00:35Already the gaming units have been dismantled at the facility.
00:39Owner of Movietown, Derek Chin, spoke to TV6 News.
00:43Would you say at this point in time there's an intention for you to close down Movietown Tobago?
00:48I would say so, yes.
00:50We need 160 approach and we have to address...
00:54But as I said, it's not final yet.
00:56We have to obviously have a discussion with the landlord and see whether there are other options.
01:02But it really doesn't make economic sense to really continue.
01:06Tobago Movietown was actually the second establishment to be established by Mr. Chin.
01:11He told us approximately 10 workers are to be affected by the closure.
01:15Mr. Chin said the Tobago leg of Movietown has always been struggling
01:20and has gotten worse after the COVID-19 pandemic, with 30 to 40 percent drop in revenue.
01:27In terms of the visits or the number of admits, I would say we've seen on our good days that we've been off about 30 to 40 percent.
01:37So if it was 1,000 people, we're at 600 people.
01:41Never have we been able to recover to pre-COVID numbers.
01:46The establishment in Tobago opens from Thursday to Sunday
01:49and has just below 400 patrons compared to thousands in Trinidad.
01:55Coupled with that, Chin said the equipment needs to be refurbished at a cost of millions of dollars.
02:02A lot of equipment is faltering.
02:05The air conditioning, the place has some leaking issues.
02:08The seats have been damaged.
02:10So it would mean that you have to reinvest in the plant.
02:13And that's where the numbers and the decision was made.
02:16It just doesn't make economic sense, you know, to make that investment, given the history.
02:22So we would like to, yeah, look at Jeremy first.
02:26He said the economy is also in a bad state.
02:30The economy is still very, very obviously very much in a bad place.
02:34But that was inherited.
02:37We all knew that as business people.
02:39And we'll do our best to try and keep things together.
02:41Of course, with all that is going along with us, the threats with Venezuela and America and so on,
02:48makes things a lot more dicey.
02:50But we have to just sit down and hope and see that things work out best to Trinidad.
02:55Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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