Paragon Theaters, the largest movie theater in the region, to shut down

ROCKINGHAM — Effective March 25, Paragon Theaters in Southern Pines will be shutting down.

The Paragon Theater in Southern Pines, the largest of the three indoor movie theaters in the region, closed after onset of the pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020 and remained closed until the weekend of April 16, 2021. After a year of empty theatres, Paragon was opening just for weekends until the weekend of April 30, after which they reopened fully with still necessary restrictions in place.

The Sandhills Sentinel reported that a new theater company may soon be coming to the location vacated by Paragon on Brucewood Road. The timeline for movies to return to the venue is not clear.

“As part of some unforeseen and unresolved contractual issues with our landlord, we are no longer in a position to maintain our brand at this location,” Jared Comess, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Paragon Entertainment Group, LLC, said in an email. “We do however appreciate all the support moviegoers have shown us these past few years and truly value their patronage.”

The theater is about a 42-minute drive from Rockingham, and the next closest is the Laurinburg Cinema about 29 minutes from Rockingham which only shows two movies at a time. Richmond County does not have a movie theater.

“It’s definitely a loss to the community and hopefully that void is filled soon,” said Phil Werz, president and CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen.

Both Richmond County Tourism Director Meghann Lambeth and Werz said that they don’t have any estimate of how many Richmond County residents travel to Moore County for movies.

Lambeth said that she sees this as part of a post-pandemic trend of people opting for outdoor, interactive activities as opposed to indoor sedentary ones.