JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1510 West

The Cinema Des Sources in Dollard des Ormeaux closed its doors Monday after 26 years. With some residents saying they’re sad to part with their local neighbourhood cinema.

“Of course, it’s always sad to see such a business having to close up shop,” said West Island resident Katherine Pottier in a message to The 1510 West. Though she explained that her trips to the cinema were few and far between, “it was a convenience to have Guzzo so close by (. . .) Beats going downtown or other areas so far from me.”

“I was shocked when I heard it would be closing because I grew up living near it,” said Hassan Danab, adding that he had “always felt a sense of it being part of the community.”

Danab had even been part of a group studying the business operations of the Cinema Des Sources as part of a market research course at LaSalle College earlier this fall.

“Part of our project was to choose a business that has seen some decline in sales,” Danab explained. “We thought (Cinema Des Sources) would be the perfect candidate for the project.”

The movie theatre’s final screening was of the highly anticipated Hollywood musical Wicked, which occurred at 9:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Cinema Des Sources was the smallest among the Cinémas Guzzo outlets, with nine digital screens and one IMAX screen. With its closure, Cinémas Guzzo is down to nine movie theatres – three in Montreal, two in Longueuil and one each in Laval, Deux Montagnes, Terrebonne and St. Jean sur Richelieu.

The closure came amid financial struggles for Cinémas Guzzo. A Quebec Superior Court judge placed the company under interim receivership in November, citing the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, following a legal motion by CIBC claiming that the Guzzo Group owed the bank more than $38 million.

Cinémas Guzzo president Vincenzo Guzzo had cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a contributing factor to the company’s financial difficulties. Movie theatres across Quebec had been completely shut down in March 2020. Despite being permitted to reopen in February 2021, Guzzo announced that his theatres would continue to remain closed, protesting the Quebec government’s restrictions on selling snacks. The company reopened its theatres in June 2021.

With the closure of Cinema Des Sources, the sole remaining movie theatre in the West Island now is the Cinéma Cineplex Kirkland.