This is a story about love.
It began simply enough as a story about how Henry’s Tailors, a long-time fixture in Oak Bay, will be closing soon. Sharon Chan, the shop’s owner, has been the smiling face behind the store for more than 30 years and in that time, she has become a beloved figure in the neighbourhood. She’s now retiring.
But for the fact of the matter is Chan’s tailor shop has been a success since it started when she was 5 years old.
“I was raised in Hong Kong and, when I was five years old, I wanted to sew. My mother’s pedal sewing machine was so big that I couldn’t sit down, I had to stand and pedal and sew. But I loved it. It was just in me,” Chan said. “I remember that I once cut some fabric from a dress my mother had that I’d never seen her wear, and I made some doll clothes,”
When her mother discovered that her best dress had been destroyed for fabric, she wasn’t pleased and a “big spanking” resulted, but Chan didn’t let that dampen her love of sewing.
In 1977, Chan (22 at the time) came to Canada with her husband, who took her to W&J Wilson Clothiers where, despite never having worked as a tailor, she was hired after demonstrating how she could master the new (and far more complicated) machines.
She moved to work at Henry’s Tailors a few years later until, after about 10 years, the owner of Henry’s said he was retiring, and Chan chose to buy the business. She loved the work, and she loved the customers.
The devotion of her customers was made evident when, on two occasions in the past, difficulties with her lease threatened to force her into closing the shop and retiring. Her husband was ill by this time, and she thought it might be best to stop working and stay home with him.
He wouldn’t hear of it.
And her love for the work and for her customers helped make that possible. On both occasions, it was those customers who, upon hearing of her troubles, went to work to find her an alternative location for her tailor shop.
But what had Chan done to earn that devotion to a local tailor?
“I remember this one man came in and he had a bad hunchback. His daughter was getting married, and he needed a suit to walk her down the aisle. I worked with him and, when he came and tried on the suit, he actually cried. And he gave me a big hug."
It was the first time, he said, that he’d had a suit that fit his frame properly or that anyone had cared enough and taken the time to help accommodate him.
Then there was the time that her old boss at W&J Wilson came to her and asked her to make his own daughter’s wedding dress.
“My son is a chef, like his father was, and he says that cooking for someone you love is a blessing. I feel the same way about sewing for the customers that have become like a family to me,” Chan said. “I have customers who I knew as children and now they have children of their own. They are like family.”
That family of customers helped her to survive the devastating passing of her husband in 2017.
“Customers brought me flowers and, knowing that I don’t really cook (her husband had always done the cooking) they brought me food. I couldn’t have made it without them.”
Life was hard for a time, and Chan immersed herself in the tailor shop until, on the advice of her doctor, she decided to get out and take part in some social activities.
“That’s when I met my new friend, Mervyn,” Chan said.
They became partners in a ballroom dance class and Chan found that, despite her self-described “three left feet”, when she danced with Mervyn, she could glide across the dance floor.
“He’s a real gentleman … really nice. Honestly, if you say go dance with just anyone, I don’t think I could do it,” Chan said.
The couple found that they shared a love of the outdoors and hiking, and her new friend introduced her to kayaking. They also learned to jive and play bridge.
Perhaps most impressive, Mervyn has never balked at Chan’s cooking.
“These days I go out and it’s all rainbows everywhere. Everything is bright and happy and good,” Chan said. “It’s time for a new chapter in my life.”
Asked if she will miss her iconic tailor shop, Chan becomes thoughtful.
“It makes me a little bit sad. I’m lucky enough that I loved what I did. There was never one day when I didn’t want to go to work. And I loved my customers and have watched many of them grow up,” Chan said. “But now, it’s time for a new chapter in my life and I’m happy.”
From the sounds of it, Sharon Chan has continued to find and give love and, although the community of Oak Bay may be the poorer for her departure, we’re pretty sure that they all wish her well.