Monday marks the end of more than a decade of board-buying in Cadboro Bay.
After more than a decade in the village, Gyro Beach Board Shop across from its popular namesake park, closes Sept. 30.
The reasons are numerous, says owner/operator Sam Goski. The rent is high plus the building recently sold and Goski and partner Catherine Grant are uncertain what the new owner has in store. But the nail in the coffin is both the ongoing construction out front and what the village will look like once that’s complete – expected in early 2026.
“With a minimum of 18 months for the planned roadwork, and installation of bike lanes in Cadboro Bay Village, it's easy for people to take their business elsewhere. I hope the community will make the extra effort to support the shops in the village,” Goski said.
The area is plagued with a plethora of pylons creating confusion, combined with the noise of excavation and hammering, the pair says.
“Today was a war zone,” Grant told the Saanich News on Sept. 25. “There’s nobody around here, it’s a ghost town.”
The next day, Saanich issued an alert reminding residents of the construction zone that is the Sinclair Road upgrades project that began late this summer.
“We are asking residents who travel through this area as part of their daily commute to consider alternate routes on major and collector roads,” the news release reads.
Access to residences, businesses and Gyro Park will be maintained, the district said, but it is an active construction zone subject to traffic disruptions, road closures, increased noise and slower speeds.
The project includes new underground services, sidewalks, crosswalk and bus stop infrastructure, raised roundabout and separated bike lanes.
For the board shop owners, that finished product is not worth riding out the storm of construction. The village will lose parking and sidewalk space frequently used for staging boards that give the block “that village look”. The 18 angled vehicle spaces will become six parallel parking spots adjacent to the bike lane.
“I call it the ‘one-block bike lane to nowhere’ and I’m not opposed to bike lanes, I use bike lanes,” Goski said. “I’m not going to survive COVID and two years of construction and then the new owner decides he has new plans for the building.”
Once the storefront closes, the online shop will remain to sell off the remaining stock while Goski and Grant peruse next options.
“I just got recertified as a lifeguard after a small 40-year gap,” Goski said, noting the next move will likely be “board-related”.
“I’m hoping to kind of morph it into whatever the next online business is going to look like.”
Find Sinclair project updates online at hello.saanich.ca/en/projects/sinclair-road-upgrades-1. After Sept. 30, find the board shop online at gyrobeachboards.ca.
