Elizabethtown's Movie Palace to close, leaving only 1 movie theater in Hardin County

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Movie Palace, an entertainment staple in Elizabethtown, is closing after this weekend.

After being in business since the late 1980s, it wasn't a decision the owners made lightly.

"It's been like a big family," said Paula Boutwell, who co-owns the business with her husband. "It's going to be a sad day on the 6th."

Paula Boutwell's father-in-law, Isaac "Ike" Boutwell, started the theater business decades ago and died in June. His son and daughter-in-law took over the family business at Movie Palace in Elizabethtown and Showtime Cinemas in Radcliff.

In August, Showtime Cinemas in Radcliff closed.

"We left it open quite a few years just hoping that the business would come back and it hasn't," said Boutwell. "Between COVID and then people being nervous to come back into the theaters once we opened up, it just was not there."

She said the decision was made to close Showtime Cinemas so the focus and resources could be poured into Movie Palace, hoping to keep it alive. But despite upgrades and renovations, just a few months later it is shutting down, too.

"We thought we would close down our Showtime location and that way our clientele would come from Showtime down to here, from Radcliff. And it did pick up a little bit but not enough to save Movie Palace, unfortunately," said Boutwell.

Thursday afternoon, employees at Movie Palace were stocking the concessions and getting ready for guests during the last few days of operation. Movie posters outside have been replaced by signs announcing the upcoming closure. The last day for movies is Nov. 6 and the building is officially closing Nov. 7.

Letitia Thompson lives in Grayson County and said Movie Palace is her family's go-to theater. They came to the theater Thursday afternoon to see one last show there together. She said it's the closest theater to home and has been a spot of many memories.

"Everybody I know really loves this theater," said Thompson. "Everybody comes there that I know from home. A lot of people have gotten engaged here and went on their first dates here and took their kids to their first movies here. Just, everybody's gonna really miss it."

Boutwell said her father-in-law kept prices the same for years and Thompson said with Movie Palace closing, she's likely done with going to the movies now.

"I've checked around a lot of other places and they're way more expensive," said Thompson. "This one is just really easy just to come in, find a good seat and sit down and enjoy a movie with the family."

Boutwell said many of the customers over the years have become regulars who know the staff well.

"It's amazing," she said. "The staff is amazing, it's like a big family. You know, people come in, we ask them how their kids are doing, how their grandkids are doing, 'Is your mom OK after her surgery?'"

Boutwell said between the pandemic and easy access to streaming services, the theater business has taken some hard hits.

"Back in the day it would take almost a year sometimes for the movie to come out on DVD. And now, it comes out -- a lot of them come out day-and-date -- which means the day they come into the theater is also the day they come on TV, so it does hurt us. That's hurt us a lot," she said.

She said if someone wants to buy Movie Palace, she'd be interested in offers. Otherwise, she plans to eventually get rid of the building and turn the area into a storage unit business, expanding on the storage units already outside.