Talking Business: Stargate Theater draws the final curtain

By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, November 30, 2006

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The Stargate Theater location in the Northgate Mall has been a movie theater longer than most people can remember.

I remember watching “Dances With Wolves” there in 1990. The room was packed with Lakota people who had come to see this film Kevin Costner had made about their culture. At the end, everybody stood up and applauded.

Last Sunday, the Stargate closed its doors, likely forever.

Lori Andrews, co-owner of the Elks and Stargate Theaters, confirmed that their lease at the Northgate Shopping Center expires today, and they’ve been unable to negotiate a new lease with the property’s New York management company.

“We hate to see it close, but we could not afford to renew at the rate they wanted,” she said. On Wednesday, the staff was pulling out the theater seats, projectors, popcorn makers and other fixtures.

The good news for local movie fans is that the Elks Theater downtown remains open for business. Lori Andrews said they have no plans to close the venerable downtown theater.

Lori and her husband, Doug Andrews, opened the Stargate in November 1999, after the Carmike folks had decided to close the Northgate Theater in the same location.

Before Carmike, the theater had gone through a series of owners, including United Artists Theaters and First International.

The theater’s long run ended, by the way, with another Kevin Costner movie: “The Guardian,” starring Costner and Ashton Kutcher. I doubt if anyone stood up and applauded at the end.

But it seems that the Stargate, at least, deserved a hand as it took its final bow.

Burger King closes today

Today is the last day of operations for the Burger King restaurant at 2300 Mount Rushmore Road, Brad Hansen, vice president of operations for Hills King, confirmed.

Hills King is the local Burger King franchisee. It operates all of the Burger Kings in the area, included the ones on East North and La Crosse streets and Jackson Boulevard in Rapid City as well as restaurants in Spearfish and Sturgis.

Hansen said it simply made sense to close the Rushmore Road eatery. The franchise agreement was about to expire, and this was the company’s only Burger King that had not undergone major recent renovation.

Meanwhile, someone stepped forward and offered to buy the property for another use. Despite my best persuasive attempts, Brad wasn’t telling to whom or for what the property is being sold.

Mount Rushmore Road seems like a surprisingly hot property these days. Walgreen’s is building a new store just up the street, and I understand Starbuck’s could be headed in that direction as well

But Burger King won’t be there. “The team there did a great job, and we couldn’t ask for better customers,” Hansen said. The staff, he said, will be moved to the company’s other Burger Kings.

Local businesses get national attention

The folks at Rand McNally have picked the Corn Exchange Restaurant and Prairie Edge Gallery in downtown Rapid City, Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City, Wild Horse Sanctuary in Hot Springs and Adams Museum in Deadwood for its “Best of the Road Editors Picks” for 2007.

The local spots will be featured in the front section of every 2007 Rand McNally Road Atlas of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Also, the Corn Exchange and its founder and chef, MJ Adams, have won national attention in a different publication.

The October issue of Food and Wine magazine named the Corn Exchange to its list of “50 Most Amazing Wine Experiences.”

The magazine, well-known among fine wine lovers, featured 50 spots outside of major cities that offer amazing wine experiences and extensive, creative wine lists.

Team Auto Sales gets new location

OK, this one is a little complicated. Team Auto Sales, which opened its doors in February at 205 E. North St. — the former CityWide Auto location — has moved.

It’s now at 2015 Cambell St. — the former Foothills Auto location. The owner of the business, Mike Wagner, has been selling cars since 1995.

For more information, call 342-TEAM (342-8326).

Paralegal hangs out parashingle

Premier Paralegal Services is a new Rapid City-based business operated by Lisa A. Lynott. She will work as an independent paralegal service for Black Hills attorneys.

She has a bachelor’s degree in history and sociology from Kent State University in Ohio, her home state.

She also has a certificate of paralegal studies from Lakeland Community College in Ohio, and she has 11 years of experience in paralegal work, including legal research and writing.

She moved to Rapid City last summer from the Cleveland area to take a position with Dakota Plains Legal Services’ Indian Land Tenure Foundation Project, working in Rapid City and on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

“While my main interest is in litigation law and legal research and writing, I am also able to provide all other types of paralegal services, including assisting with business and real estate transactions, probate, domestic relations, employment law, etc.,” she wrote.

For more information, call 209-4926 or e-mail premierparalegal@gmail.com.

PC Doctor launches Deadwood practice

Douglas S. Taylor, a limited liability company based in Roubaix near Deadwood, is the Northern Black Hills PC Doctor that still makes house calls.

If your personal computer is showing signs of trouble, such as viruses or the Blue Screen of Death, Douglas S. Taylor LLC’s technician, who is also named Douglas S. Taylor, will help nurse your computer back to health.

The service also can install hardware such as hard drives and printers and help with networking. Taylor also handles design work for business cards, brochures and Web sites.

Taylor and his family moved to the Deadwood area from Pierre after the first book of his sci-fi series hit the Internet. Before that, he spent seven years as a state employee. He did Web design work for the Bureau of Information and the Telecommunications Division. He is also an Air Force veteran.

For more information, call 578-9720 or visit www.dstpc.com.

Talking Business appears Thursdays in the Journal. Contact Dan Daly by telephone at 394-8421, by fax at 394-8463 or by e-mail: dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com.