Downtown Cinema to offer beer, wine, and food?

Tom Giffey, photos by Scott Kunkel |

Have you, like John Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction, ever dreamed of sitting down in a movie theater with a beer in your hand? You may soon have that cinematic dream fulfilled – with a slice a pizza on the side. Micon Cinemas has numerous changes planed for its Downtown Cinema, 315 S. Barstow St., including serving beer, wine, and an expanded food menu for patrons seeking movie-going experience not currently offered in the Chippewa Valley. The Eau Claire City Council is scheduled to vote Oct. 28 on granting the theater the necessary liquor licenses, a move the city’s License Review Committee had already recommended. Getting permission to serve beer and wine is only one step in the plans owners Mike and Connie Olson have for the budget cinema. According to plans filed with the city, they want to renovate the theater’s lobby, concession area, and projection room; widen aisles, make seating more spacious, and add tables in the theater area; as well as add a kitchen, digital projectors, and handicapped restrooms, among other upgrades. The Olsons hope the changes help generate enough revenue to cover the $100,000 cost of upgrading to digital projectors for the theater’s two screens. In addition, the Olsons have said they’re considering bringing movies to the Downtown Cinema – such as indie and award-winning flicks – that aren’t otherwise screened in the Chippewa Valley. In other words, serving beer isn’t the only change that’s brewing.