The Vancouver Sun is reporting that the David Hunter Garden Center at 2084 West Broadway will close on Christmas Eve after five decades in business. Ron Hunter, the owner of the company – which was started by his father, David, in 1953 – says the 10,000 square foot Kitsilano location must close because the lease could not be renewed. And Kitsilano.ca readers know why.
“We are naturally very disappointed. We have been in the location for almost a half century. But the owners of the property want to develop it into a mixed retail-residential project,” Hunter says.
“We’ve been looking for another location for the past two years without success. Either the properties we have found are too expensive or don’t have sufficient space for all the green goods [plant material] and not enough space for parking.
“We’ll continue to search for a new location because we would like to still have a store in Vancouver. If we can’t find one anywhere, we will start to look out in the Fraser Valley.”
David Hunter started the business in 1953 with a store at the corner of Kingsway and Rupert in Vancouver. He called it The Kingsway Garden Shop. In 1960, he took over the store on Broadway, which was then called The Broadway Garden Shop. Soon after, David Hunter gave the stores his name.
