Capital Iron has been a mainstay of Victoria for nearly 90 years, and now it will be making a triumphant return under new ownership this September.
People were crushed when they found out the Store Street location and its Langford counterpart would be closing in October of last year, especially after the Sidney Capital Iron shuttered in October 2020.
Then surprise overtook Victoria when the news came out that Capital Iron had to file for bankruptcy and hadn’t paid many of its vendors.
Fred Aram, owner of WestCoast Appliance Gallery, had his interest piqued by the announcement of Capital Iron’s closure because he knew the brand to be one of the strongest in the city.
He quickly started chatting with Capital Iron’s previous owner, Mike Black and the two made a deal to sell the company’s name and some of its assets to Aram.
Aram wound up purchasing Capital Iron’s intellectual property, which included its name, website and social media channels. Due to the company’s bankruptcy, Aram made the purchase from the trustees who took over once the company entered receivership.
Aram’s intention with Capital Iron was never to make it into another WestCoast Appliance Gallery, but to make it into something completely separate. He wanted to see the business evolve from what it was under the Black family’s ownership.
“It will not be a general store, it will just be a specialized store that will focus on what it is good at,” Aram told Victoria Buzz when he announced he was buying the business.
“I was already planning on introducing outdoor appliances into WestCoast Appliance, but even though we are the largest appliance store in Victoria, it still doesn’t have enough room for outdoor products.”
“When this opportunity came up I thought, ‘maybe we should look into this and get this re-established and going again because it’s strong enough to support itself as a standalone entity.’”
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Aram didn’t mention where his Capital Iron location would be back in January. He was keeping his cards close to his chest and it turns out, that’s because he had a deal in the works with the owners of the original and iconic Capital Iron location at 1900 Store Street.
The deal took a bit longer to finalize than Aram hoped — he wanted to be open for the beginning of the spring season, but has had to push things back until fall.
Aram and his team made the announcement on Monday, April 24th on Capital Iron’s Facebook that Victoria can look forward to its return in September of this year.
Unlike Aram’s original plan to only be an outdoor goods store, it seems he has pivoted and will have a selection of indoor and outdoor goods, closer to the original Capital Iron’s selection than he initially intended, but still not a general store.
Some familiar faces may be seen behind the till at the new Capital Iron once it opens, too. Aram hired at least two staff members from the old store he wanted onboard to help him reopen.
He said he extended the offer to hire all of the old Capital Iron’s staff members once they shut their doors, but some had already found other work.
Keep your eyes on Capital Iron’s social media for their official reopening date!
