After years of limbo, the Vogue Cinema is finally getting a new lease on life as another Sackville staple, Ducky’s Pub, is set to waddle across the street and move in.
While renovations on the old Vogue haven’t begun, Ducky’s owners Sarah and Luc Poirier have already developed a floor plan and they even have a tentative move-in date of Jan. 1, 2027.
That means a big celebration to mark the end of 2026, said Luc.
“We’re talking about a major, a major party here on New Year’s Eve, closed on January 1st and then a huge opening day on January 2nd, just in time for the students to return for the first big weekend of the school year.”
The pair know renovating an 80-year-old building likely means some hiccups, which could delay the date, but for now, that’s the plan they developed with building owners John Ernst and Tyler Gay, who own the Vogue.
In January 2025, Ernst and Gay approached Sarah and her then-co-owner Kate Cogswell about plans the landlords had for building accessible housing. It would have required taking some of the space Ducky’s currently uses.
So the developers proposed an alternative—a move into the Vogue.
“I thought at the time it was very exciting, and it still is,” said Sarah. “But then in the middle time, I got thinking about it, I was like, ‘that’s like double the square feet and how are we gonna fill that space and what are we gonna do with that space?'”
Though details are still up in the air, the couple have plenty of ideas and are focused on ensuring the new space meets a few specific goals.
At the top of the list is accessibility, something they struggle with in Ducky’s current location, said Sarah.
They also intend to continue the work of turning Ducky’s into more than just a bar. When Sarah bought the pub with Cogswell in February 2024, they wanted Ducky’s to become a community space, something Sarah feels has been happening slowly but surely.
They recently started hosting open mics and trivia, and in the past have hosted everything from birthdays to funerals.
Beyond those goals, they also aim to provide a new venue for live music, while incorporating some of the Vogue’s history, said Luc.
“With luck, we’ll be able to rebuild a stage at the Vogue that feels like the Vogue, but can suit a seven- or eight-piece band and still provide a big-time show on a little bit more regular basis than just what we’re seeing at Sappy Fest.”
In the meantime, Sarah and Luc will continue planning for the eventual move and are open to any ideas from the public for how the space can be developed, as well as what sort of events people would like to see, Luc said.
“We’d like all the feedback, all the suggestions for things that you, that a person would like to run or host or organize, both in our current space and in the very, very not long-term future of our new space.”
