A petition asking the City of Concord to help reopen Carolina Mall Cinema has topped 1,000 signatures since launching Sept. 29.

The Change.org petition, titled "Save Carolina Mall Theater," showed 1,070 signatures as of Friday, Oct. 2. It asks the city to "help fund and restore the building to its former glory" and has set a goal of 5,000 signatures.

The petition went live one day after Carolina Mall Cinema 8 at 120 Country Club Drive announced its permanent closure in a Facebook post.

The theater gave no reason for shutting down.

Signs taped outside the building read: "The movie theater is permanently closed. We thank you for your years of patronage."

The closure caught staff off guard. Queen City News reported that, according to a social media post, employees were messaged the morning of Sept. 28 and told the location was closed and they were no longer employed. Parent company Southeast Cinemas Entertainment's website also went offline that day, Queen City News reported.

WSOC-TV reported that reporter Hannah Goetz attempted to reach General Manager Bryan Smith by email and phone on Oct. 1 but could not connect. No one from the theater or its parent company has publicly explained the closure.

The theater opened in 1976 as a small cinema and expanded to eight screens, then 12, over nearly four decades, WBTV reported. It survived the COVID-19 pandemic by selling giant bags of popcorn for curbside pickup when its screens went dark, according to The Cabarrus Compass.

Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners Chair Laura Blackwell Lindsey told The Cabarrus Compass on Sept. 29 that the theater was "a landmark in Concord." Lindsey recalled dropping off her children there for movies and said her youngest son got his first job at the cinema.

Tammy Biggerstaff, a community member who spoke with WSOC-TV, remembered seeing "Star Wars" and "Grease" at the theater. "That was the place we all went on the weekends," she said.

On the night of Sept. 28, regulars who drove past the theater found dark windows, locked doors and bare poster displays, according to WBTV.

The petition's 5,000-signature goal has not been met, and no response from the City of Concord regarding the request for public funding has been reported.