Written by What a treat to check the mail tonight and find the Strand Theatre, one of High Street’s best local businesses, looking back at me on the cover of this week’s Worcester Business Journal.
It’s a story on how small, local theaters are using a different business model — one that focuses on creating a gathering place and providing good value for customers — to compete with the giant chains. Co-owners Rob Nierintz and Bill Grady are featured, along with the Elm Draught House in Millbury.
WB Journal Editor Brad Kane introduces the story in his editor’s note. “At a time when the moviemaking business is focused on huge opening-weekend box office numbers, the Strand and the Elm offer the pleasures of a different movie-going experience,” he says. “Their ticket prices are cheaper, their food is less expensive, the auditoriums are simpler, and watching the movie is only part of the entire sensory experience.”
That sense of community is something we can build on here. To reach its full potential, High Street has to be about more than just doing business. It has to be a place where people want to be, a place that adds value to their lives.
Rob said it best when he talked about how the Strand fits into Clinton’s downtown: “There’s something very special and nostalgic about it being on this street.” I remember covering town for the Daily Item in the early 1990s, when redeveloping the Strand was a key goal for downtown. We’re lucky to have the Strand, and so many other forward-thinking business owners, on High Street, and it’s great to see that their efforts aren’t going unnoticed.
Sean Kerrigan, Clinton Select Board 