Bloomfield Maple Theater being demolished

By Lisa Brody

After closing in early February 2024, a true victim of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Maple Theater is now being demolished, according to Bloomfield Township officials.

According to township building official Steve Fink, the owners of the building are demolishing it, and nothing is currently planned to be built in its place.

Located in the rear of the Bloomfield Plaza strip center at Maple and Telegraph roads, The Maple Theater first opened in the late 1970s as a three-screen theater showing independent films and smaller art house films. Current owners Jon and Lauren Goldstein, as Cloud Nine Theater Partners, purchased the theater 12 years ago, and sought to revitalize it by adding a cafe and a liquor license.

But streaming services and the COVID pandemic were the final death knell to this smaller movie house, which sought to remain open as a bastion from large megaplexes showing mainstream Hollywood fare.

On Monday, February 5, 2024, the Goldsteins posted on Facebook that their lease had expired, “and after months of difficult deliberations, we have decided that it is time to end our run as operators of this wonderful institution. We have been honored to be stewards of the Maple Theater and appreciate all the support and patronage from the community for the past 12 years.”

The Goldsteins purchased the theater from Landmark Theatres in 2012. Landmark had acquired the theater in 1998 from AMC Theaters, and renamed it the Maple Art Theatre. It was first opened in 1977 by Suburban Detroit Theaters as the Maple 1-2-3, according to reports.

As the Maple meets the wrecking ball, its another death knell for an era of art house movies in metro Detroit.