After 32 years running the historic Rialto Theatre, owner Bill Peebles to retire
After more than 30 years operating one of the Triangle’s longest-running, independent movie theaters, Bill Peebles is finally ready to retire.
Peebles confirmed Monday that he plans to sell Raleigh’s Rialto Theatre.
Once called the Colony Theater, the historic Rialto has been an entertainment mainstay on Glenwood Avenue since the 1970s. But “I built the theater into what it is today,” said Peebles, who took over the business in 1989, shortly after he turned 30.
The Rialto’s historic building at 1620 Glenwood Avenue — built in 1935, according to property records — is not up for sale. It’s owned by Anne Stahel, whose family has owned the building for around a century.
But Peebles will sell the rights to Rialto’s management to either “a person or a group of people who can operate the theater moving forward,” he said.
Some local, prospective buyers have already shown interest in the business, Peebles said, but he didn’t disclose who.
He is adamant, though, that whoever buys it must be someone with knowledge of marketing, the movie theater industry and live entertainment, instead of a “wishful thinker.”
Peeble’s main hope is that the theater be converted into a nonprofit that would allow it to receive grants and remain open for the community to continue its programming: independent films, screenings of classic movies, live concerts, private parties, comedy shows and the theater’s fair.
A timeline for the transfer isn’t clear yet, and Peebles didn’t disclose his asking price.
His business, Ambassador Entertainment, owned several Triangle movie theaters at one point. They included Studio I & II Theatres, which closed in 2000, and Mission Valley Cinema, which closed in 2019.
Ambassador Entertainment also opened Lumina Theater in Chapel Hill in 2000 (which has new owners) and Six Forks Cinemas in 2003, which closed in 2020.
Saying goodbye to the Rialto
The pandemic made Peebles realize that he could not put off his retirement much longer.
“I’m not getting any younger,” he said.
An executive order from Gov. Roy Cooper shut down the theater for nine months in 2020, which Peebles still believes was a necessary decision.
But when the theater opened again in October 2020, “it wasn’t the same.”
What he most looks forward to in retirement? “Sitting on the boat and watching other boats go by with a cocktail in hand,” Peebles said.
An avid boater, he aspires to go up and down the South Atlantic coast, from the Carolinas down to South Florida.
His retirement is about getting much-needed time with family and friends — his retired friends who live near beaches, in particular.
“I find myself saying, ‘You know, I’d like to hang out with you guys this weekend but I got to go back to Raleigh,’” Peebles said.
The Rialto’s loyal staff and die-hard patrons are who he’ll miss the most. Movie theaters typically turn over most or all of their staff each year, Peebles said. But the Rialto had staff who worked there from five to 10 years.
In the eve of the pandemic shutdowns, Raleighites rallied around saving the theater, raising over $35,000 on GoFundMe to support it.
“We just had a huge weekend with ‘Where the Crawdads Sing,’ hundreds of people every show... and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God... they are so going to miss this. I’m going to miss this,” Peebles said.
