Cove Theater to close May 31, ending five-year downtown run

Downtown Copperas Cove is losing one of its easiest places to gather after work or before dinner: The Cove Theater will close its doors May 31, ending a five-year run that helped draw families, date-night crowds and foot traffic to the square.

Owners Andy Remedies and Betina Cash announced the closure on social media and said the decision followed “many conversations and much prayer.” The theater has been part of downtown life since the couple reopened it in November 2021, and KXXV reported they had run it for the past five years alongside Herb & Earnie’s and Main St. Mercantile.

The closure lands as a practical blow to a downtown district that depends on businesses reinforcing one another. A movie ticket often meant dinner nearby, a walk past storefronts and a longer evening in the center of town. With the theater shutting down, Copperas Cove loses a venue that gave residents a reason to linger downtown instead of heading elsewhere for entertainment.

FOX 44 reported that Remedies and Cash originally signed a lease on the building in June 2021 and spent months remodeling the abandoned theater before reopening it. That work included repainting the inside and outside, replacing doors and upgrading equipment. The couple said the lease is expiring soon and that they can no longer keep investing money into a building they do not own.

They also raised the possibility of a handoff. “Hopefully an interested party will reach out and purchase our inventory and equipment to continue The Cove Theater,” the couple said, leaving open the chance that the space or its contents could be reused if a buyer steps forward.

The shutdown also ties into the couple’s other downtown investments. Herb & Earnie’s Family Diner opened in 2022, and Main St. Mercantile, located at 210 S. Main St., later became part of the same business mix on South Main Street. Main St. Mercantile received the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation’s first Business Improvement Grant, part of a program that reimburses 50% of eligible costs up to $5,000. The EDC set aside $25,000 for the program in its first fiscal year.

For downtown Copperas Cove, the theater’s last day marks more than the loss of a screen. It is another shift in the mix of places that keep the city center active, and a reminder that lease terms, renovation costs and downtown economics can shape what survives on the square.