Steeped in History: Smithers’ Roi Theatre anxiously awaits a buyer

The Roi Theatre has been up for sale for almost year now with no promising offers. However, the owners and operators, Lorne and Angela Buchanan, are committed to keeping it [...]

Steeped in History: Smithers’ Roi Theatre anxiously awaits a buyer Published 1:46 pm Monday, July 13, 2026 The Roi Theatre has been up for sale for almost year now with no promising offers. However, the owners and operators, Lorne and Angela Buchanan, are committed to keeping it open for as long as feasibly possible.

While the future of the only movie theatre in Smithers is unknown, the business has a long history in Smithers. In 1933, there was a theatre called the Capitol, and they advertised “talking pictures.” It was operated by E.N. Walker, and owned by Cecil Steele.

The theatre was later named the Reo. In the early 1950s, Les Buchanan and Slim Goodacre bought the business on Main Street, and renamed it the Roi Theatre. In 1973, the new Roi Theatre was built on Fourth Avenue where it now stands.

Shortly after, Art and Marge Buchanan became the sole owners and added an additional cinema. The Roi 1 was built in 1973, another screen in 1983 and the last theatre in 2009. In total there are three screens, all digital now and one of them is 3D capable.

About ten years ago, their son and daughter in law, Lorne and Angela took it over. Angela explained everything was going really well until the COVID pandemic hit. They were forced to shut down the business for almost a year and a half while still having to pay utilities and taxes.

Once they were allowed to reopen, the movie industry and how people consumed entertainment had just seemed to change, making running a theatre more difficult. The rising costs of everything, including concession items and property taxes has not helped, they said. So the couple made the difficult decision to sell, mostly citing feeling burnt out.

Angela worked at the theatre as a teenager, while Lorne grew up helping his family run it. They ended up reconnecting later in life and getting married. The memories for both of them run strong throughout the theatre and they both hope someone will buy it and continue running it as a theatre.

Not only for the community to be able to have a place to watch movies, but for young adults to get their first job and a safe place for teens to hang out on a Friday night. They know it will be a tough sell with the costs of running the theatre versus the income it generates, but they are hopeful a creative buyer will come along and maybe downsize or work with a non-profit society to run it. President of the Smithers and District Chamber of Commerce Trevor Bruintjes is also worried about losing the institution.

“The Roi is now for sale but with land and building prices high and in an industry that is most known for high volume, low profit business models makes it hard to sell,” he said. “And the reality is the building is more profitable selling to a developer and not being a theatre.” Having a municipality or non profit society buy a theatre to keep it alive has been done before in the region.

The movie theatres in Hazelton, Houston, and Burns Lake are all run by non-profits or a government body. The Houston Link to Learning took over the Houston Plaza, initially closed due to COVID-19, with a grant and a mortgage. The organization transformed it into a social enterprise, providing work placements and training for people with disabilities.

The Plaza serves as a community centre, offering training in janitorial, customer service, and point of sale systems. It generates revenue through bowling, mini-golf, and concessions, however the movie theatre portion is not as profitable. Program manager Jenn Williams said the initiative has been successful, training staff and benefiting the community, not only for Houston but also Burns Lake and Smithers.

She emphasized the importance of community and workforce integration. “We felt that for the community it was important that space reopen. It was like a centre.

It would bring people to town and things like that. We just felt that for community at the time, especially going through COVID, it was important.” As the Buchanans wind down their time in the business, they’ll greatly miss hanging out there, watching their staff grow up and seeing all the changes the film industry is constantly going through.

Lorne said he’ll fondly remember switching from reels to a digital system, and not having to run the reels down to the bus depot. Angela said she’ll miss seeing kids come to the theatre dressed up in costume for their first Disney movie or see teens awkwardly hold hands on a first date.