Chuck E. Cheese Heard Your Pleas, Will Keep Animatronic Bands In 5 Locations
And one of them is in North Carolina!
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The public backlash to Chuck E. Cheese’s announcement that it was scrapping the iconic animatronic bands at all but two of its 400 locations was fast and furious.
Less than two weeks after the news broke that the robot musicians would be making their final curtain call, Chuck E. Cheese backtracked.
On May 24, a company spokeswoman told The New York Times that Chuck E. Cheese heard the pleas of nostalgic fans and decided to increase the number of animatronic bands that will stay to five.
Mark Kupferman, the chain’s chief marketing officer, told the Times that the decision to keep three more bands amidst the company’s modernization effort was done to pay tribute to the generations of kids who have sustained it for nearly 50 years. For them, the slightly unnerving appearance of Chuck E., Jasper T. Jowls, Helen Henny, Pasqually, and Mr. Munch is as essential to the Chuck E. Cheese experience as the pizza. (Don’t get us started on the ball pit.)
“It’s a duty to our legacy,” Kupferman said.
“I don’t think there is anybody at Chuck E. Cheese who begrudges doing this,” he added.
Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The five locations that will be holding onto their quirky musical ensembles are in Los Angeles; Nanuet, New York; Pineville, North Carolina; Hicksville, New York; and Springfield, Illinois. The Pineville location will also reportedly house an “exclusive collection of Chuck E. Cheese memorabilia.”
Those locations will still undergo previously planned renovations, but will keep the beloved bands, which date back to the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
“We will do everything we can to keep those characters maintained and in perfect operating order,” Kupferman told the Times.
Planned renovations to the other 395 Chuck E. Cheese restaurants across the U.S. include replacing the band with a Jumbotron-size TV, adding more seating, and installing digital dance floors.
Well... we had a good run, millennials.
For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on Southern Living.
