Customers will be seeing double for a while when it comes to Ladner’s only home improvement and hardware business.
Dunbar Lumber is days away from opening a second retail location at Ladner Centre while its original store on Bridge Street will continue to operate, mainly as a lumber yard. That site has been sold and eventually will be redeveloped.
The process of finding a new address has actually been going on for some time, according to store owner Ken Priestlay. He initially thought he had secured a location near the Boundary Bay Airport to move the entire store operation until that plan hit a snag.
“It just didn't work out. Something happened where YVR started looking into expansion at Boundary Bay and a bunch of political things got into the way,” said Priestlay. “Then the (Bridge Street) property finally sold and we needed to find a new place.
“Everybody thought at that point we were selling or closing Dunbar Lumber and that never was the plan. I’m still working non-stop to find a location that I think people from Ladner and Tsawwassen would be able to easily find. I am a Ladner guy and I know that the business I run here needs to be accessible for somebody who wants to build a fence or fix something.”
That’s why Priestlay also shot down rumours the lumber yard is headed to the Tilbury area. He recalled the days of going back-and-forth from a warehouse at Tilbury when his parents ran Barb’s Country Furniture in Tsawwassen.
“We all know there are good and bad times of when you want to go near the tunnel,” he continued. “I would like to stay away from there and there are opportunities to stay local. It’s whether or not we can work something out with the city. What they have in mind and what we have in mind.”
In the meantime, Priestlay is excited to be opening the Delta Centre location and taking advantage of nearly 8,000 square feet of retail space which is significantly larger than the Bridge Street store. Customers can expect to see a greater variety of merchandise, reminiscent to the days of the former Ladner Village Hardware on Delta Street.
“We are going to have to add stuff to the store, stuff that all Ladnerites need,” added Priestlay, who also operates the original Dunbar Lumber store on Arbutus Street in Vancouver. “Some guys are fishermen. Some guys are hunters. It’s going to be cool. We’re going to have a lot of fresh new stuff and I’m really looking forward to it.
“We don’t have a set date to move out (of Bridge Street). There may be a little bit of a headache at first trying to figure out which each store has but I just want people to understand that we are not closing and we’re still a year or maybe a year-and-half away from the old store actually shuts down.”
If all goes well with renovations, signage and stocking shelves, the Ladner Centre location will open Sept. 1. It’s in the former Canadian Dollar Store location between the B.C. Liquor Store and Save on Foods.
