Market Basket buys Seekonk Showcase Cinemas property. What are its plans?
Market Basket bought the property for $9.5 million
Video shows Seekonk’s Showcase Cinemas, just bought by Market Basket
See the Showcase Cinemas in Seekonk after the building was bought by Market Basket.
SEEKONK, Mass. − Market Basket‘s parent company, Demoulas Super Markets, purchased the Showcase Cinemas property in Seekonk in a leaseback deal with the theater company.
According to land records, the deal was for $9.5 million and was signed in July.
In a one-sentence statement, an unnamed Showcase Cinemas spokesperson wrote that the theater was sold and the property is currently under a leaseback agreement.
In all, the property is 16.4 acres at 100 Commercial Way, surrounded big–box stores and strip malls, including a Target, a Walmart, a Kohl’s, a Best Buy and a Lowe’s Home Improvement. The theater is surrounded by huge parking lots on three sides.
What was the assessed value of the property?
In 2024, the property was valued at $6 million. That’s down from 2009, when it was valued at $8.4 million.
Market Basket did not respond to a request for comment.
Will the movie theater stay?
The statement from Showcase Cinemas does not specify how much time the movie theater has left in that space, and the company did not answer further questions.
Leaseback deals, where a company sells a property and leases it, or part of it, back from the new owner and continues to operate in the space, are common. They came into the spotlight recently when the seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy. A big part of its bankruptcy is blamed on a bad leaseback deal, which cost $190 million a year in rent.
Showcase theaters under renovation
Showcase has been renovating its theaters. For some, that means replacing stadium seating with much larger electric recliners. While the inside of the Seekonk theater looks clean and crisp, it still has stadium seating, much like the Showcase Cinemas at Providence Place.
(The IMAX theater in Providence Place has a wide type of stadium seating that does not recline).
In 2021, Showcase renovated its Warwick theater at 1200 Quaker Lane with the new seats. Showcase closed its theater next to the Warwick Mall during the pandemic and then did not renew its lease. It has since been replaced by Apple Cinemas. Its North Attleboro theater also has the new reclining seats.
Old Seekonk theater being turned into housing
The former Showcase Cinemas location in Seekonk, on Fall River Avenue, will be turned into a 240-unit housing development, according to The Sun Chronicle.
Where are Market Basket stores in and around Rhode Island?
Market Basket has two locations in Rhode Island, and two stores just over the state line, in Attleboro and Fall River, Massachusetts.
- Warwick: 25 Pace Blvd.
- Johnston: 1300 Hartford Ave.
- Attleboro: 1200 Newport Ave.
- Fall River: 600 William Canning Blvd.
Where are the Showcase Cinemas in and around Rhode Island?
- Providence: Providence Place mall, 10 Providence Place
- Warwick: 1200 Quaker Lane
- North Attleboro: 640 South Washington St.
- Seekonk: 100 Commerce Way
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
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