One of downtown's landmark boutiques is closing forever.
The owner of JJ Springer stresses, however, that economics has nothing to do with why they are closing. The store was in the black, the customers and suppliers were healthy, their 4th Avenue location was desirable, but personal reasons took precedence over the business reasons.
Tracey Green is also a healthcare professional. She felt a stronger calling to go back to helping those in medical need, now that her family did not require mom to have a flexible schedule.
"A lot of people know that my sister Shari [Green, current mayor of Prince George] bought this business with me, and we did that because we had kids that were quite young," Green said. "We both wanted flexible schedules so we could be involved and active with the things they were doing. If I was working at the hospital, those schedules are set and if a lacrosse tournament comes up in another town, I want to be able to go to it. our kids are not at that age anymore, and since a small business takes a lot of time and effort and commitment, I wanted to channel that kind of energy back into the profession I trained for and love."
Shari sold her shares in the business years ago and although she is still involved with moral support and sisterly helping hands, the full weight of responsibility was on Green's shoulders. Even to sell the business felt like too much of a long-term investment of time and energy, she said, so instead she sold the property and is simply closing the doors on the retail items.
"It's going to be weird, for sure, and it's emotional," said Green. "Our regular customers are just finding out now, they see that everything is on sale for the close-out, and we are hearing a lot of surprise. Our suppliers are horrified. We are definitely going to miss the relationships we had with them, and with the customers. There was already a good customer base when we bought it [in 2003 from founder Julie Lesley] and we carried on building from there, so I know this touches a lot of people. Our kids grew up here, we have put so much of our lives into it, and we formed wonderful relationships with people we never would have met any other way."
The building itself is special. Although not officially designated as a heritage site, it is one of the oldest homes in northern B.C. and as Green spoke with The Citizen, the public library's regular walking tour stopped in front and the guide told some of the story to a cluster of Asian visitors.
Built in 1918, it was the home of the region's main undertakers the Corless family. They resided there until 1933. In recent years it has been used for commercial businesses like a real estate firm and JJ Springer since 1996.
The property has been purchased by an as-yet undisclosed buyer. Green said "there was no discussion at all, zero indication, that the building would be demolished to build something different on this site," but she did not know what the buyer's plan was.
