MINEOLA, Texas — Inflation is still impacting local businesses across East Texas, and a historic theater in Mineola is doing its best to maintain affordable prices for their customers and to keep their movie magic.
"We’ve been trying very hard to keep our prices down," said George Jones, executive director of The Historic Select Theater & Lake Country Playhouse. "It's been very difficult getting product, I don't know if it's a holdover from COVID, or because of the trucker crisis going on. We haven't been able to get as much as quickly as we used to."
Even after battling price increases and supply issues, the theater leadership wants to avoid passing that heavy penny on to their customers.
"We want to be the family friendly theater," Jones said. "We want people to be able to come here to be able to afford to have some kind of entertainment, and just relax and get out of the heat."
Inflation on all products from candy, drink syrups, popcorn seeds and movie rentals are starting to become a problem.
"We don't have multiple screens to bring in hundreds and hundreds of people, we have one," Jones said. "We don't have a big concession we have a small one. So what you see is pretty much what you get. We try to get as much variety in there as we can, and we try to bring as much variety as we can into our auditorium. But we are still limited on how many people we can get in per day per show."
Many loyal customers are glad the theater has kept its affordability when compared to others.
"There's a good deal of people who commute," said Glen Thurman, a Mineola resident. "A good portion of our population is retired, so people live on fixed income, they can still afford to go to the movies and as well as beginning families that have a lot of young children. They can afford to go too."
The theater has been around for over 102 years and Thurman has attended this theater his whole life. He remembers when he could but a ticket, soda, and candy bar for just 35 cents.
"I'm amazed that they've been able to hold the cost here," Thurman said. "I was just telling George earlier that I don't think the prices are high enough."
Even with high gas prices East Texans from all over are willing to drive to Mineola to watch the latest blockbuster.
One mother, Rebecca Weaver, comes from Tyler just to bring her family to this theater.
"I make the commute because the prices here are so much better that even with the price of gas I still save money," Weaver said. "I have a family of six and to come out here is still cheaper than going in Tyler."
This theater serves many residents from surrounding towns including Lindale, Hawkins, Grand Saline and more.
"It feels good that somebody is trying to help people have entertainment," Weaver said. "Because if the price of gas goes up, price of food goes up and your budget for entertainment is gone."
Regardless of all the issues the theater is facing, Jones hopes the business lasts for another century.
"We're always open to take donations," Jones said. "Everything we possibly can do, we're going to do it before we raise the price not one more cent."