Garage to close after nearly nine decades
Hemrich Bros. was started by four brothers and has been in business since 1932
In 1932 four brothers from Yorkton, Sask., opened a garage at 1031 West Georgia, near Burrard Street.
Eighty-seven years later, Hemrich Bros. is still operating at 8506 Ash St. just off Marine Drive and Cambie Street. But not for long. Their lease is up and they’re closing at the end of March.
The four Hemrich brothers — August, Adolf, Henry and Bill — died years ago. But the garage is still a family business, owned and operated by August’s son Gord, his wife Lynne and their daughter Julie. Oh, and their three little white dogs, Brew, Bandit and Buddy.
“Our customers love the dogs,” said Julie Hemrich. “They’re like ‘Oh my god, you have a dog.’ ‘No, we have three.’ They’re like ‘three’!”
This is definitely not a corporate establishment.
In the back of the shop are a couple of racing cars belonging to Dave Hemrich, a son who has been a dominant force at Agassiz Speedway in recent years.
He follows in the footsteps of his father Gord, who was the king of local speedways in the 1960s and 1970s.
There are literally dozens of trophies belonging to Gord and Dave in the Hemrich Bros. office.
Gord ran Langley Speedway in the late 1970s, but it has closed, as have most of the old racetracks.
“I started (racing) at 15,” said Gord. “I raced at False Creek Speedway. ”
When the first Hemrich Bros. garage opened at Georgia and Burrard streets, it was on auto row, home to early dealerships like Begg Brothers and Bowell Macdonald.
The first Hemrich garage was in back of another early dealer, Southard Motors.
The garage moved a lot in the early years.
Searching through old Henderson’s directories, it pops up at 660 Howe St. in 1935, 626 Howe St. in 1937 and at 580 Hornby St. in 1940.
In 1944 it moved to 880 Dunsmuir St., and in 1947 to 250 Dunsmuir St.
“Where the stage of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre is (today),” said Gord Hemrich.
The garage had a few more locations before it wound up at on Ash Street in December 1990.
Business is still good, but the garage was served with an eviction notice just before Christmas. So the Hemriches decided it was time to close the shop.
“There are no locations (for garages in the city of Vancouver),” said Julie, who has worked there for 30 years.
“They don’t want automotive shops in any of their lease spots anymore because of contamination of fluids in the soil. And the rents are so expensive now.”
The Hemriches have quietly been selling some of the shop’s materials around to fellow automotive shops.
This Saturday at 9 a.m. they’re having a garage sale to sell off the rest.
If you’re in the market for a car hoist, one will be for sale.
There will also be a lot of tools, glass display cases, cardboard stand-ups of racecar drivers, a giant Pennzoil display bottle, and boxes of hats and die-cast toy cars.
“I had roughly 3,500 die cast cars,” recounts Gord. “Sold most of them, but there’s still some up there.”