The Williston Selectboard on Saturday unanimously approved a liquor license for the Majestic 10 cinema. If the Vermont Department of Liquor Control signs off, moviegoers could be sipping beer and wine in their seats before the end of the year.
The first-class license permits beer and wine sales only. Adding adult beverages is the first change owner Merrill Jarvis III plans for the cineplex. Though he’s not ready to offer full details yet, he told Seven Days on Saturday, those changes might include heated, reclining seats. “We’re going to upgrade,” he said. Work is expected to start in January.
But first, Jarvis plans to apply for a state liquor license on Wednesday. He’s been told that the department typically issues its decision within 18 days.
If approved, he would offer beer and wine across the lobby from concessions. “It won’t be at the candy counter,” he said. His staff would card patrons and issue glow-in-the-dark wristbands to those old enough to drink.
To complement the adult beverages, Jarvis is considering offering gourmet nachos and a cheese platter — “things that are more uppity than Goobers and Raisinets,” he said.
Majestic 10, like movie theaters nationwide, has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 shutdown and Hollywood’s dual writers’ and actors’ strike in 2023. In addition, the historically volatile business has been forced to contend with the rise of at-home streaming.
Majestic 10’s ticket revenue has just now, over Thanksgiving weekend, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, Jarvis said. His family closed two other theaters in the past 13 months: Palace 9 Cinemas in South Burlington in November 2023 and Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas in Burlington just last month. The latest closure leaves the state’s largest city without a commercial movie theater and the Jarvis family — which once owned 13 cinemas, mostly in Chittenden County — with a single movie house.
Saturday’s selectboard vote, Jarvis hopes, will help improve revenue. As he put it, “The Majestic wants the customers to … sit back, have a drink, have a wine and enjoy their film.”
Correction, December 9, 2024: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Williston Selectboard approved the sale of beer and wine at Majestic 10.
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2024.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
