RTP-area local music and culture

[Duncan Murrell <dvmurrell AT nc.rr.com>]

On Sep 21, 2004, at 10:52 AM, Duncan Murrell wrote:

> Amid all this speculation about what aspect of the business supports  
> what, Jason helpfully points to an Inc. magazine article about the  
> Starlite which lays it out in quick strokes. As far as I can tell,  
> here's the business plan:

I was going to leave all this alone after that, but I got obsessed so I  
read everything I could find that had been published about the Starlite  
in the last ten years. From that, it seems clear that:

1. The drive-in part of the business was Mr. Groves' primary source of  
income;
2. The drive-in made a profit during most of the months of the year,  
when he could run it at a full schedule;
3. The gun shop/video store was established to supplement his business  
primarily during the winter months, when the drive-in schedule gets cut  
back to weekends only;
4. Recently, his drive-in business has been booming, exceeding his  
expectations and, on a few occasions this summer, almost filling the  
entire lot for first-run films;
5. A few years ago, he made enough money to buy five more adjacent  
acres;
6. Someday -- 5-10 years, "no guarantees," quoted in 2000 -- when the  
value of the land exceeds the value of the business, he may very well  
sell the whole place.

I think it's more accurate to say that the gun shop and the drive-in  
support each other and, on balance, the drive-in does more of the  
supporting than the gun shop. This might actually argue in favor of  
donating to the drive-in, even if you're a little skittish about the  
gun shop -- it's a tiny little shop that doesn't make a ton of money  
for the owner, and would probably not be successful if it had to carry  
as much of the weight of the business as the drive-in. (That is, it   
probably wouldn't "continue with or without support, sisyphus.")  For  
most people who have gone to movies at the Starlite, none of this  
should make any difference when it comes to deciding whether to donate  
money or plywood -- you already know there's a gun shop, and you've  
accepted it. No problem.

 It could make a difference, though, to people who haven't been to the  
Starlite, who would be inclined to support the rebuilding of a drive-in  
screen on principle -- historic preservation, preserving the character  
(or characters) of the community, pure charitable instinct, whatever --  
but are averse to supporting the gun industry, also on principle. I see  
no reason why potential donors who don't already know it, shouldn't  
know that part of the business is a gun shop, and that contributions to  
rebuild the drive-in screen will help the whole business out on Club  
Boulevard.

Two articles of note:

1. The Triangle Business Journal -- details on the business, how he  
runs it, future plans, etc. From 2000:

http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2000/07/10/ 
smallb1.html?page=1

2. There's a profile of the business from the Herald-Sun, published  
July 10, 2004, by Anne Krishnan -- info on the current state of the  
drive-in business and its resurgence, nice comments from movie-goers,  
and so on. I'd post the link, but it takes you to a paid registration  
screen. It's too long to post here, but I can e-mail the text to you --  
just ask.

d