Theater complex looking for site
A movie theater chain based in Mission, Kan., is considering the East Hills Shopping Center as the possible site of a multi-screen theater complex.
Dickinson Theatres, which has theaters in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, has expressed interest in building up to 12 screens near East Hills, said Tom Beach, the mall’s operations manager.
“I just know that someone is looking at it,” he said. “They’re just looking for a site in St. Joseph. This is their preferred site.”
Dickinson officials did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Theater expansion has been discussed before in St. Joseph. In 1996, a plan to add four new screens to the Plaza 8 Theater, the largest in St. Joseph, went nowhere after Crown Cinema Corp. sold the theater to Dallas-based Hollywood Theaters.
St. Joseph has 13 movie screens, and theater managers in north Kansas City actively seek business from St. Joseph residents.
“We ran a special in the summer for St. Joseph residents. That was attended fairly well,” said John Buckner, managing director of AMC Barry Woods 24, a new movie complex that opened in north Kansas City.
Big Boy opens Tuesday
St. Joseph’s Big Boy restaurant will open Tuesday, company officials in Michigan said.
Elias Brothers Corp. of Warren, Mich., is renovating the former Shoney’s restaurant, 2203 N. Belt Highway, and hiring 60 to 70 employees to staff the restaurant.
A small Big Boy statue, complete with the trademark checkered overalls, pompadour and double-decker hamburger, was erected in front of the building this week.
Other Big Boy restaurants are opening across Kansas and Missouri.
The Shoney’s restaurant closed late last month. About 20 of the Big Boy employees will come from Shoney’s.
Miranda Gorham, who is helping with the hiring in St. Joseph, said the Big Boy restaurants are known for hamburgers, homemade onion rings and ice cream.
Giant barbecue grill to visit
The world’s largest touring barbecue grill will make an appearance Friday at Food 4 Less in St. Joseph.
The Johnsonville “Big Taste Grill” will be cooking bratwursts at the St. Joseph store at 903 N. 36th St. The 32,250-pound grill, which extends to a length of 45 feet, has the capacity to cook 750 brats at a time.
The grill is part of a promotion from Johnsonville, a meat processing company that makes bratwursts.
Lunch will be served beginning at 11 a.m., and proceeds will go to Bishop LeBlond High School.
