The lights are about to go out at a recently reopened movie theater at the Carbon Plaza Mall.

Mahoning Valley 8 - formerly Mahoning Valley Cinema - in Mahoning Township will close on Sept. 14, the group posted Monday on its Facebook page.

Ronda Love, president/owner of FunTime Cinemas Inc., explained that “the decision to close was basically the landlord requested a lease termination for some very good reasons.”

Love said the building owner is Larken Associates.

“When we leased, it was the middle of the pandemic, the theater had been closed for a while, (and) the landlord at the time gave us a very good deal on the lease,” Love said. “They wanted to get somebody in there and they wanted to keep the movie theater, and we did too.”

Love added, “then they sold that and everything opened back up and the new landlords wanted to put something at market value in there, which is understandable, which is struggling.”

“It’s still from the pandemic, actually,” she said. “We had very little movie product; only recently this summer we had decent product, and I would say going back to 2019 level, we would get one good movie every couple months, but that’s not enough to be profitable.”

Love cited other reasons that prompted the theater to close.

“It’s a larger property than our other locations, it’s much more expensive,” she said. “We’ve just been doing our best to carry it.

“When they asked, we agreed because we felt it was better to preserve the business. We talked about even looking for another movie theater operator, but honestly we run pretty tight, and can’t make it; I honestly don’t think anybody could.”

Love said FunTime Cinemas also has locations in York, Harrisburg, and Willow Street (south of Lancaster).

“The three together are doing OK,” she said. “They are holding their own.”

Love said she isn’t sure what will happen to the Mahoning Township location.

“They did not inform us,” she said. “We do not know.”

Love said that passes can be used on any title until Sept. 14, and that gift cards can be used until that day as well.

“Please bring them in,” she said. “Please say goodbye.”

Additional information regarding refunds for unused gift card balances will be posted later this week at www.funtimecinemas.com.

Love said it will be difficult to say goodbye.

“We’ve been blessed with a wonderful staff, and customers,” she said. “We’re just grateful to the community for welcoming us in the middle of so much challenge, and we’re sad to leave.”

The announcement on Facebook generated more than 200 likes and more than 100 comments as of late Tuesday morning.

Anita Hausman posted that she’s “hoping someone else can purchase this and open up again.”

Bob Schaeffer said he’s “very sad to hear this.”

Mary Pachorkowsky said “Oh no! We love going here.”

The former operators of Mahoning Valley Cinema announced in April 2020 they would be closing the theater immediately. Before that, the theater had been operating at Carbon Plaza for more than 20 years.