Alder Inn, which has operated downtown Aldergrove for more than half of a century, will soon sit empty.
That’s because resident Dave Sharma is planning to relocate its last remaining business – a beer and wine store – just down the road this month.
Sharma acquired the Alder Inn’s liquor licence from its previous owner, Gary Sangha, five months after the Township of Langley purchased the building for $5.4-million, last June.
Since then, he’s kept the same name and staff as Sangha, but there’s going to be one big difference. Its location.
RELATED: The Alder Inn – ‘Should it be saved?’
Sharma is choosing to renovate the unit where Common Exchange pawn shop existed for more than a decade, 27094 Fraser Hwy.
He’s making the move there because it is a “newer” and “bigger” space, with more room to serve customers and house inventory.
“The Alder Inn space is very small,” Sharma explained.
Once moved, Sharma plans to keep the name of the liquor location – to pay homage to its origins inside of the Alder Inn.
RELATED: Langley Township purchases the Alder Inn and neighbouring lots for $5.4-million
The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated Sharma’s other business pursuits.
“Everything is closed. No one is able to pay rent,” said Sharma, the landlord of the 27000-block of units on Fraser Highway, where he plans to move the liquor store.
Sharma is ardently opposed to evicting any of the commercial tenants, as the storefront businesses haven’t had a chance to make profit due to COVID-19 closures.
“There is no other person that would move into them during such a time – what else I can do?” Sharma spoke rhetorically.
That being said, sales are up at the Alder Inn Liquor Store, although “not by much,” he added.
“It’s going – but for how long, I don’t know.”
READ MORE: Fraser Highway storefronts in Aldergrove get major facelift