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Doors close on old Kitsilano stores

Most of the businesses are relocating

Owner Margie Sheppard rang in purchases from behind the counter at Ethel’s boutique last Friday afternoon.

They were among the last sales at her business’s longtime location on West Fourth between Balsam and Vine streets, across from Safeway.

Ethel’s closes its doors on Jan. 15, although it will move to another site at West Broadway and Macdonald where it will reopen, after a brief break, March 1.

Ethel’s is relocating because she says the 1920s-era building in which the store is currently situated is being knocked down to make way for new development.

west fourth
Photo Dan Toulgoet

Five businesses, aside from Ethel’s, are affected — William Parton Agencies, Babes on Fourth, Kate French, Buen Café and Pirate Joe’s. Only Buen Café has closed permanently. The rest have either moved or are moving to new locations. William Parton Agencies spent 53 years on the block.

It’s already relocated to 2695 West Broadway, but a note on its old storefront highlights its history on West Fourth, thanks customers and directs them to its new location.

“For three generations of our family William Parton Agencies have served our neighbourhood. We wish we could have stayed here even longer, but we didn’t have the opportunity,” it reads.

west 4th
Photo Dan Toulgoet

Ethel’s boutique also has a long history on West Fourth.

Sheppard’s mother, Ethel Pollock, opened it in 1970.

The family moved to Canada from Dublin, Ireland, in 1958. Sheppard, who took the shop over about 20 years ago, said her mother loved fashion and sewing.

“She used to sew everything. She was a seamstress and she made everything that she sold in the store. And I don’t do that,” laughed Sheppard. “It was her passion. She was great. There are six kids in our family and she sewed all our stuff.”

Ethel’s was originally located one block east but after that building burned down in the 1980s, the shop moved to its 2346 West Fourth location where it’s been a fixture ever since.

Over the years, Sheppard has witnessed many changes in the neighbourhood and recalls when the Plimley Chrysler Dodge car dealership was located on Fourth at Vine Street.

While the yellow-fronted building in which Ethel’s is located appears modest at first glance, around the back the brick exterior facing the alley gives it an old row housing appearance, Sheppard said.

“It’s really quite cool.”

west 4th
The view of the building from the alley. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The building was sold in recent years so she assumed it would either be torn down or lease rates would double. Sheppard said she’s looking forward to her new location, but will miss the old neighbourhood.

“It was great for a long time so I appreciate that,” she said.

Shannon Bradley Dexter, who stopped in the boutique for a look around on Friday, thinks it’s a shame to see Vancouver’s quaint retail buildings torn down.

She’ll miss the sense of community, knowing all the retailers and the style of the building.

“It’s part of the little boutique history that is West Fourth Avenue. They’ve already built a lot of condo developments with retail on the bottom further down Fourth and I don’t think it has this same sort of feeling. It’s anywhere North America rather than this nice feeling of unique little shops,” Bradley Dexter said.

She cited the “one-storey human scale” of the building, its unique black and red tiles that frame all the storefronts, each store’s recessed entrance, which creates shelter from the rain, as well as the large show windows for retail displays and window shopping.

Bradley Dexter also noted the wooden front doors with large single-pane windows and “proper door knobs,” which she feels add to the architectural appeal.

west 4th
Photo Dan Toulgoet

“I am not sure what is happening with the building, and if the plans are to tear it down, I only hope that some of the original charm can be maintained or incorporated into the new design to continue to make this block on Fourth Avenue an architecturally unique place with local businesses,” she wrote in a follow-up email.

It’s unclear what the building owners’ plans are. A call to the property management company was not returned by the Courier’s deadline.   

noconnor@vancourier.com
@naoibh