Movie theater and restaurants offer students something different

Tiffany Herschend
The Mirror

Downtown Springfield is changing and growing, providing Drury students with several new options in restaurants, retail shops and even downtown's first multi-screen movie theater.

The new Hollywood Theater at College Station Stadium 14, which opened Nov. 7, has 14 screens with 2,000 seats, and is the only multi-screen theater north of Battlefield Road.

Eight hundred new parking spaces have been added to support the new business and allow more capacity during the week. The new parking lot is free to movie theater patrons who get their parking tickets validated. It's also free for anyone Sunday through Friday after 5 p.m.

Students can even make a full night out of a trip downtown, visiting new restaurants such as Pan Asian on Walnut Street and Cajun restaurant The French Quarter Café on Park Central East.

New retail stores opened this fall such as Envy at 323 E. Walnut, which offers affordable apparel and is comparable to clothing stores found in Battlefield Mall. A new Ridge Runner Sports location has opened as well offering sports and outdoor apparel.

But these new attractions are not all downtown has to offer. Many Drury students still prefer the old downtown hangouts such as the Outland Ballroom and events like First Friday Art Walk.

Drury senior Tiffani Harris says that she and her friends like to go to the Vandivort or the Landers Theater because they are both in historic buildings and put on live productions of musicals and plays. "They both offer student discounts as well and it's nice to have the opportunity to dress up for something."

The popularity of the downtown area is growing thanks to other businesses in the area as well. "Spillover traffic from the John Q. Hammons Arena is drawing people downtown," Rusty Worley, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance said, noting Missouri State University's new building. "The future opening of the O'Reilly Family Event Center is also supposed to draw more people to this side of town."