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What's In Store: Langley's Passionate Home on the move again

The redevelopment of that section off the one-way section of Fraser Highway in downtown Langley might have been met with some skepticism. But things seem to be starting to shake in that neck of the woods.

Any who have walked through the plaza in recent weeks may have noticed the closing out sale signs on McBurney Junction. The store is closing its doors on May 31 – allowing Karla and Nikki to retire.

That furniture and art, and interior decor business started in the core back in 1988, with this pair of friends taking over the past 14 years.

“Quite the ride for sure,” the duo said in announcing the closure and explaining how they’re anxious to take on some new adventures.

There’s also a new antique store on the south side of the alley, and now Carrie Thachuk of The Passionate Home has announced she’s going to expand again by take over the McBurney Junction space.

"Yes, we are moving and it is both exciting and scary," Thackuk told the Langley Advance.

"We do not actually get the keys till mid June," she said, noting the McBurney Junction’s location is "so much" larger than her current space on the west side of the plaza.

"I guess that just means it will fit larger dreams," she added.

Thachuk opened the doors of her first retail shop on April 13, 2006, in a tiny (and I mean tiny) storefront location in the Old Country Mall at the west end of the the one-way.

A year later, she expanded and took over the store that had been directly behind her, but as a regular - even back then - I was always curious and excited to visit but scared I'd break something as I moved around that small shop.

It was actually Karla, from McBurney Junction, that tipped Thachuk off to another space - next to her shop in McBurney Plaza (formerly known as McBurney Lane) that was coming available.

Thachuk remembers the thought of moving being "nerve wreaking and exciting," but it meant more space so she went for it - and the synergy between her shop and McBurney Junction, she described, was a natural.

So fast forward a few more years, and Thachuk was sitting at her desk, looking out over the plaza when she spotted a couple obviously weighing the pros and cons of renting the empty space recently vacated by Spot of Africa.

Without questions, the space was giant compared to what Thachuk had, and she was wanting and needing to move to newer digs to pursue her dreams. Watching as the couple wrote down information and made some phone calls, she too picked up the phone. She called her husband and in short order prepared to move again.

Thachuk has been in her current location for the past three years now, describing it as "tight."

A year ago, she had started casting around again for bigger digs.

"About a year ago I was feeling a bit tight in the four walls that are currently The Passionate Home and I started to look for other locations and really looking for an opportunity to grow and make all my ideas become reality. And, as you may or may not know, McBurney Junction Interiors recently decided to close their doors and retiire and go onto other things in life," Thachuk said.

"And it was almost like as their opporutnity to continue life happened, another opportunity came for me to grow. And so, The Passionate Home is going to move to the McBurney's old location. I'm super excited, emotional, nervous, but mostly really excited," she said, hoping to be open in the new digs in June or July.

"I have some amazing ideas," she said, not offering too much information yet about what's to come and what her visions are for expansion of her once tiny downtown Langley City business.



Roxanne Hooper

About the Author: Roxanne Hooper

I began in the news industry at age 15, but honestly, I knew I wanted to be a community journalist even before that.
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