Fairway Market at the Westshore Centre in Langford is closing and will cease operations in about two weeks, according to store staff.
The Market, located in the Westshore Centre has been in operation since 1987.
The news came as a shock to staff who were notified of the closure on Friday (June 28).
“We were just told yesterday. Nobody was expecting this, and it’s come as a shock to the people who work here,” said Marites Peat, one of the store’s staff supervisors.
“In fact, we haven’t even been told when we’re closed officially. I just heard from some of the part timers who are saying that they were told two weeks.”
Fairway Markets touts itself as Vancouver Island’s largest independently owned grocery store and lists 10 locations across the Island, including the Westshore store.
The chain was begun in 1963 by Don Yuen who that year opened his first location on Gorg Road in Victoria. Expansion continued and a second Langford location in Goldstream Village was opened in 2018.
The sudden closure of the Westshore location has not been formally announced to customers, but large banners appeared around the store, announcing that everything in the store (excluding lottery and tobacco products) is now selling at a 30 per cent discount.
Store manager, Stephen Yao, was not available for comment.
