A few weeks back, the Citrus Park Movie Theater abruptly closed for good. This theater had been going since 1999 which made it one of the oldest movie theaters in Tampa, and unsurprisingly, locals had a lot of nostalgic memories attached to the place.

Having said this, in a world post-2020, a lot of physical businesses have struggled and if you recently visited the place then you’ll have noticed that it was quieter than say five years back. Still, it’s quite shocking to see such an everyday part of Tampa life close down.

This prompted an ex-employee to share their thoughts on the closure, on the popular website Reddit. Here, they claimed that staff were treated badly by both the managers and customers, while also working very long hours. They also showed a behind-the-scenes picture of the upstairs kitchen, which was apparently never used. Not only this, but they also mentioned the second floor which had been dormant for years – but up until 2005 was actually quite active.

According to the ex-worker, they weren’t told of the closure until hours into their final shift. In other words, there was no warning or time to look for another job. They claimed that this was because the theater company Regal had not paid rent for the premises and decided to quickly leave, effectively leaving staff in the lurch.

Overall, this is quite a sad ending to a staple of many Tampan’s childhood memories. If the story is true then it also shows how badly certain companies can treat staff and that your job is probably not as safe as you may want to believe.