The Lakeshore Cinema in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has closed and is for sale.

Located on Washington Street in Downtown Manitowoc, the single-screen movie theater was operated by Get Reel, Inc., which operates the Chilton Cinema and Chilton Twilight Drive-In in Chilton and the De Pere Cinema in the Green Bay area.

The theater posted the following message on its Facebook page on July 20, 2022:

The Lakeshore cinema due to staff shortages is closed and for sale. We will continue to do birthday parties and private events The kids birthday parties and private events have always been so much fun to do and require less staff. You can call Vicki at 920 371 1585 for private party info. Thank you to all the folks who have contacted us asking to apply and jump in to help. However we are starting to slow down into retirement and it is time. The plus 20 years of movies and the staff over the years at the Lakeshore cinema have made for some of the best times. Thank you all Mike and Vicki

From previous posts, it appears they were having trouble staying open because of a lack of staff.

The photo above was taken in 2017, and the neon signage on the front was in very poor condition. It was broken in several places, we weren't able to see it at night to know if it was even functional.

Moviegoers in the area will need to visit one of the other nearby theaters, including the AMC Classic Manitowoc 10 in Manitowoc, and the Marcus Sheboygan Cinema and Weill Center for the Performing Arts in Sheboygan.

Theater For Sale

Are you interested in owning a movie theater? The commercial real estate listing for the property shows it to be for sale for $145,900. The building is listed at 7,920 square feet and it sits on 0.23 acres of land. The projector, sound rack, and ice maker are not included, so it's not a turnkey opportunity, though.

Theater History

The first movie theater at this location opened in 1916 as the Mikadow Theatre, which burned down in 1956. It was rebuilt and reopened January 19, 1957. It closed as a movie theater at some point, and was operated as a church until it was purchased by Get Reel, Inc. and re-opened as a movie theater in May 2002. Twenty years later, the building's future is once again uncertain.

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