Knock-on effect: Pinball arcade goes down with cinema

Vaughan Jones’ pinball business was in good shape but its position is untenable without the cinema.

by Janine Hill

THE pending closure of Nambour’s Majestic Cinemas means the Sunshine Coast’s only pinball arcade will also fall as collateral damage.

Sunshine Coast Pinball, which is next to the cinema in the C-Square complex, will trade through Easter with the Majestic before owner Vaughan Jones shuts up shop.

Vaughan knew the future was uncertain for his business when it was announced in February that Majestic Cinemas had entered voluntary administration. 

For six weeks, he had hoped that the Nambour cinemas would remain open but news of the closure forced his hand.

“I’m okay, however, it’s been a bruising and crushing week or two, and it’s not been any easier in the last week, that’s for sure,” he said.

“I’ve been in a position of uncertainty where you’re desperate for some news, one way or other, but then reality is hitting you and you realise it’s the thing you expected all along.”

Vaughan said times had been tough and would have been made more difficult by a planned refurbishment of the centre even though the business had been in a good position.

“It was challenging but my business was trimmed up really well. It was ready to capture the next busy period. I was positioned to capitalise on it.”

However, the loss of the cinema, with which he shared customers, would render his position unviable.

He said there had been subtle signs that the Majestic closure was coming but all he had been able to do was sit back and wait for meetings between other people.

“You wonder what’s coming but you’re not sure if they’re serious about it,” he said.

“You hope that a miracle comes along at some stage and makes it work.”

Vaughan said he was already fielding enquiries from people interested in buying some of his hard-to-get pinball machines “but if I sell them, I can’t get them back again”.

He felt it would be hard to start another business in the future at his stage of life but his priority now was to sell, reduce debt, “see what’s left, take a break, and see if I’ve got the energy and the stones to do it again.”