It’s such a shame when a mom and pop movie theatre goes out of business downtown, because it is like the end of an era. But it really does not have to be that way, as there are things these small business people can do to compete with the big brand name multiplex theatres.

From one of the white papers I read, it appears micro-scheduling could be the answer. Micro-scheduling describes how a Movie theatre might schedule their shows so that those going to the theatre to see a movie, rather than those going to see a specific movie at a theatre can capitalize rather than cannibalize on their sales of the most popular movies.

Meaning those who see an alternative movie to that of the biggest of the week feature may come back a second time to see the movie they missed. So in this regard the movie theatre has more traffic, movies start and stop at different times, meaning more efficiency in allocated resources, less staff needed and everyone wins.

Likewise in that aspect movie theatres ought to use their theatres for day movies and for conferences, learning and speeches too, by using the Theatre to teach local students, which is a good allocation of daytime vacant resources. Also giving seminars to people who wish to learn a specific thing.

And I’d like to add that micro-scheduling of this type can also be done with indoor soccer fields being used when kids are at school for special kids soccer or home schooling networks to provide socialization for those kids. Next, I’d like to further point out that micro-scheduling shows that you need less over all facilities for schools, and can teach people their way. You see, the reality of community college is that some people go to school because they want to learn something, others want to learn something specific and sign up for a specific course. It’s the same issue, just backwards.

Micro-scheduling with a little common sense can keep the mom and pop downtown theatres in business and thus allow the downtown areas to thrive again. Think on this.