The owner of The Roxy Cinema, Garry Farrar, has made the difficult decision to close the move theatre's doors until COVID-19 restrictions ease further.
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Like many businesses across the Macleay, The Roxy Cinema was ordered to close its doors in late March.
"Cinemas were some of the first businesses ordered to close by the State Government," Garry told the Argus.
"We were able to reopen on July 4, but made the decision six days later to close up again."
Garry said the difficult decision was made due to lower numbers of movie goers which just wasn't feasible for the small cinema.
"Even though we're a small cinema, we still had to follow the same guidelines as larger theatres and we went from being able to have 100 people down to 40, and we just weren't getting those numbers."
Garry, who took over ownership of The Roxy Cinema in October last year, said he understands people aren't ready to be out and about just yet.
"I understand the trepidation people have of attending public gatherings, especially the older demographic," he said.
"We've received a number of supportive messages from locals though who have said they will support us when we do re-open."
Garry said another factor in the decision to close the cinema's doors was the availability of movies.
"A lot of people have moved to streaming movies at home during quarantine and because the movie business has also been impacted by the pandemic, there are no new movies being made and everything has been put on hold."
Garry has a background in television and believes we won't be seeing any new flicks for a while.
"A lot of movies that were in production have been halted and production companies are holding off on releasing films. The situation in America also has a lot of influence as to when the movies will be released," he said.
Although the Roxy's doors will remain shut with no set reopening date as of yet, Garry said it's here to stay.
"We're just taking it on the chin and will be closing the cinema for now. We'll just wait and see what happens with the spikes in COVID cases in Melbourne and Sydney.
"This is not goodbye forever, this is a see you when we see you."
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