It was officially the end of an era downtown as the owners of W&J Wilson removed the signs from their store on Government Street Monday. The clothing store has been around as long as the city itself, selling to gold miners and settlers, famous founding fathers and then generations of residents and tourists.
The closing ends an 159-year downtown run for W&J Wilson, spanning seven generations split between two families. The store, on the original site a few steps from the walls of where the Fort Victoria trading post once stood, is up for lease by descendants of the Wilson family who still own the property.
The Thompson family, which has owned the business since 1956, continues to operate W&J Wilson clothing stores in Sidney and Oak Bay.
