Strand Theater (Sturgis)

• 219 W. Chicago Road
• Sturgis, MI 49091
• (269) 651-5032
• Website
• Menu

I love old movie houses.  I grew up going to the Paramount Theater in Kankakee, IL.  That one dates back to the 1930’s and while they’ve added on several screens they still use the original auditorium and it’s gorgeous.  

Michigan has it’s own series of classic movie houses from the vaudeville days.  Some of them are now live event venues.  Some have remained movie theaters.  

Memorial Day weekend was kind of wacky for us.  We went to J’s parents near Sturgis on Friday, stayed until Sunday morning then headed back to Kalamazoo for figure skating lessons.  We then took two cars back to Sturgis for the remainder of the weekend.   I actually had to drive to Mackinaw City on Monday so I was heading home Sunday night to sleep in my own bed and get a fairly early start on my drive.  

I went back to Sturgis with the family for one reason.  To go see a movie.  

B wanted to see the new Garfield movie and so did I.  I grew up on Garfield comics….there are stacks of Garfield books at my parents house.  Usually, we go to Three Rivers 6 to see movies when we’re in that area but there’s a theater in Sturgis I’ve been wanting to go to for a really long time.  

The Strand Theater is a classic vaudeville theater turned street front movie house on Chicago Drive /US-12 near Pleasant Street in downtown Sturgis.   The theater has been an anchor of downtown for well over 100 years.  It was a live performance vaudeville theater then became a movie theater when the transition was made around 1950.   At one point, the theater was owned by W.S. Butterfield Theaters, Inc which owned theaters all over Michigan including the State Theatre in Kalamazoo and the Riviera Theater in Three Rivers.  The theater was originally known as a Crystal Theater when it was built around 1910 and it became a Strand Theater sometime around 1925.  The family that owns the theater has owned since 1963.

The original entrance underneath the marquee is no longer used as an entrance. You can still exit there but the entrance is actually in a building next door that was purchased in the 80’s so the theater could expand to four screens.

The lobby area is very, very basic. When you walk in the door, there is a ticket office to the right. It’s not much more than a wood box with plexiglass. The thing that really drew me to wanting to check out this theater was the ticket prices. If we could have gotten to a matinee showing (before 5:00) tickets are just $5. Even at the 7:00 show, my ticket was $8 and B’s (under 12) was $6. I got both tickets for $14. That’s not even one ticket at the bigger chains. The Google listing for the theater says they’re “cash only” so I made sure to get cash before I got there…but Google is wrong. They take credit cards.

The small concession stand is right next to the ticket booth. The options are pretty limited. There’s popcorn, obviously, Pepsi products, slushy’s and candy. We got a “Monster Size” popcorn because they didn’t have any large bags left, a large Pepsi, a slushy, and gummy Nerd clusters. The cost was $22.

They also have “gourmet” popcorn flavorings but I kept it simple with just butter. And..if you don’t want to see a movie but just want popcorn, they started doing curbside popcorn during the pandemic. It’s something they’ve kept up even after the theater went back to normal operation.

There are four screens in the Strand Theater. We were in Auditorium 1 which is in the newer part of the theater. It’s straight back from the concession stand up three stairs in a door that’s not really marked all that well. I was about to ask which one was Auditorium 1 when I saw the chalkboard next to the door with “Garfield” written on it.

I was a little bummed we weren’t in the original auditorium..if it even still exists…I don’t know. I would have liked to have looked around a little but the place is so small, it would have been obvious that I was being nosey so we just went in to our theater.

The auditorium looks and feels like a theater from the 1980’s/1990’s and that’s perfectly fine with me. The newer theaters with stadium seating and recliners are nice, but I’m 100% content in a place like this. The theater was much larger than I was expecting it to be and it’s a little worn but none of that took a way from the enjoyment of the movie.

The seats, again, are pretty standard 80’s/90’s theater seats. There is a slight incline to the rows but it’s nowhere near stadium seating. The seats are kind of narrow, the arm rests don’t go up and each of those armrests has a cup holder.

We got there way too early again (B will remind me of this everytime I get to a movie super early) and there was no on screen entertainment or anything being played. At exactly 7:00, previews started. There were only three previews and two of them were for movies that were already out and B has already seen so he was kind of bummed about that. The movie literally started about 5 minutes after the scheduled start time.

As for the movie, it was alright. It was pretty funny but it really strays from the classic Garfield comics. Garfield was always the opposite of an action star which is what he is in this movie. B loved it though and we both laughed quite a bit.

I’m so glad I finally got a chance to get to this theater. I love these old small town movie theaters. There’s so much history in the old Butterfield theaters around the state and the Strand is no exception. I love that they keep prices low by keeping it simple. It doesn’t have all the modern amenities that the AMC’s and Loews of the world are going to have but that’s alright. This place is oozing nostalgia for a Gen X movie lover like myself and it was another great night spending time with B doing something we both really enjoy.