Bend’s Regal Pilot Butte 6 will show its last films Sept. 2, Labor Day, before closing its doors forever, according to Russ Nunley, a spokesman for Regal Entertainment Group.

“It had been identified as an under-performing location that didn’t have enough visitors to sustain business activity,” he said. “We recently built and then expanded our location in the Old Mill District, and moviegoers have shown a preference for going to that facility.”

The Pilot Butte theater was put up for sale in mid-2011. In January, Boise, Idaho-based firm Hawkins Cos. LLC applied to the city to purchase and develop the property into commercial retail space.

“When we looked for solutions to the lagging business, we found the property itself was the valuable part,” Nunley said.

The 5.7-acre property near Northeast 27th Street and U.S. Highway 20 sold to Hawkins for $2.9 million, according to Jeff Hess, CEO of Hawkins.

Pilot Butte 6 opened in 1994 and concentrated on showing smaller, independent films, Nunley said. Those types of movies will now be shown at the Old Mill theater.

“Our Old Mill theater does have room to show a variety of films,” he said. “To accommodate many of those who love more independent filmmaking, our Old Mill location also hosts the BendFilm Festival.”

The Pilot Butte theater shows movies on 35 mm film, which Nunley said will be “obsolete” after next year.

“Studios are no longer going to produce movies on 35 mm,” he said. “Everything will be produced digitally.”

Someone had approached Regal Entertainment Group expressing interest in purchasing the 35 mm projection equipment, but Nunley could not confirm that the equipment sale was final at this time.

“A gentleman who is spending some of his summer in Bend heard that this theater was for sale, and he contacted Regal to say that he was in the market for film projector equipment,” he said. “His interest stems from his work to restore an older theater in his hometown.”

Hawkins Cos. plans to demolish the theater building to build a Walgreens and a Wilco, Hess said.

Wilco sells crop and soil supplies, garden materials, landscaping equipment, diesel and gas. It has 12 locations in Oregon, including a store in Bend and one in Prineville.

The new 38,000-square-foot Wilco will replace the existing Bend store on Nels Anderson Road, formerly the location of Round Butte Seed Growers, which Wilco purchased in March.

“We certainly think the area is a viable one for a company like Wilco,” Hess said.

Hess did not have a specific timeline for demolition or construction, but Aaron Henson, a city senior planner, said permit applications are usually reviewed and approved within two months.

“We’ve submitted the design plans for the Walgreens to the city of Bend, and so has Wilco,” Hess said. “The city has done well by us and are working through their processes. From many, many discussions with the city, we feel like it’s not a matter of if, but when.”

Hess said the two other businesses on the property, a Schlotzsky’s Deli and a Washington Federal bank, will continue to operate.