ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The AMC Classic Ohio Valley Mall 11 movie theater will be closing its doors for the final time on Sunday.

An assistant manager at the theater confirmed that the business will cease its operations at the St. Clairsville location on Sunday but declined to comment further. The news comes unexpectedly, leaving many Ohio Valley residents voicing their surprise on social media.

As many movie theaters across the country closed up shop in recent years due to the increasing number of people staying home to watch the newest movies, the AMC theater continued to operate as one of only two movie theaters in the Ohio Valley. Marquee Cinemas — Highlands 14 at The Highlands in Triadelphia is the other local movie theater.

The mall’s first theater was a Cinemette opened in 1980, according to information from the Ohio County Public Library. A Carmike Cinemas theater opened in 1987 and later became an AMC theater in 2016. Although the theater has seen many ups and downs it has been a staple for decades for not only the mall, but also for Ohio Valley residents, many of whom expressed via social media that they will miss attending movies there.