A longtime Williams Lake business will be closing it’s doors this Friday (May 23).
Glacier Glass owner Dwayne Dilworth said the main reason they are closing down is that he won’t be putting up with a homeless shelter directly across the street from his building at the corner of South First Avenue and Yorston Street.
“The people that stay inside are generally good but from other stores that I have, I’ve seen what people that aren’t allowed in the damages they do and the nuisance they cause. In other communities that I have stores in I’ve seen it all too close.”
Dilworth said he has sold the buildings but the business he did not sell.
After 50 years of service the original Lake City Glass was purchased by Glacier Glass in 2019 making it Dilworth’s fourth store.
He said they did a revamp of the store and in the last 3 years business has been great.
“It was a tough decision,” Dilworth said, “I made an investment here in Williams Lake. I certainly didn’t plan that I would be leaving. But even talking with realtors the impact it has on resale value of properties and the nuisance that it causes with people loitering on your doorstep, coming in shoplifting, nothing seems to happen with the catch and release, I’m just not putting up with it. I attended Council meetings, spoke against it, let them know that if this did go through I would be pulling out and I’m a man of my word and I am pulling out.”
Dilworth said closing the business will affect his 4 employees and his quite certain they will go to work elsewhere as Williams Lake is a vibrant community.
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