CHAPEL HILL - Bruce Stone gave no guarantees when he added The Varsity to his Chelsea and Carolina theaters nearly a decade ago.

"We are foolish enough, or gullible enough, to think that this can be useful, or interesting, or maybe even fun," Stone said at the time.

On Monday, with rumors swirling around town, the Internet and even Carrboro Town Hall, it appeared his run might be ending.

Reached at home, Stone confirmed he was looking for a buyer.

"Today was supposed to be the day of decision," he said Monday evening, declining to give details.

"I can't know the whole story until this day expires, which is why I'm sitting at home."

Fans, a neighboring merchant and an employee at The Chelsea all said they understood the business was closing or at least changng hands. Thursday's showings were to be the last, though Stone would not confirm that.

"It's a possibility,' he said.

Efforts to reach property owner James Rumfelt, who owns the Varsity's building, were unsuccessful Monday.

If the Varsity closes, it would leave downtown Chapel Hill without a movie theater.

On Monday, that possibility prompted former Alderman Allen Spalt to e-mail Carrboro Town Hall suggesting, "If [The Varsity] can't be saved where it is, maybe it is finally time for a movie theater in Carrboro?"

In 2005, Stone lost his lease on the Carolina Theatre across the street when owner Joe Riddle decided to seek a single tenant for his 33,000-square-foot property on the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets. Stone said the only reason he was able to keep the theater open was because profits from The Chelsea and Varsity propped it up.

Across town that year a Charlotte developer abandoned plans for a 10-screen movie theater in Village Plaza shopping center, leaving behind nearly 11 vacant acres.

Stone bought the Varsity in 2000 from the Chapel Hill Cinema Corp., a group that included local manager Jim Steele, for an undisclosed amount.

He suggested then that Chapel Hill's having so many "art house" screens was unusual.

"A town of this size being served by six screens which are independent is an extraordinary circumstance," he said. "Mainstream America is a multiplex kind of place."

mark.schultz@nando.com or 932-2003