On the second floor of a building on Government Street, old-school upholstery and furniture restoration is underway. The open-plan warehouse is filled with wide tables where fabrics are cut, booths with industrial sewing machines and rolls of felt and foam. Workers carefully stretch fabrics over wooden frames and hammer in nails and use staples to breathe new life into old-fashioned colors and patterns.

There are sofas, lounge chairs and dining room furniture – even oak chairs from the legislature – all getting a new look at Greggs Furniture & Upholstery.

David Screech has spent much of his life here since he was 20, working for and later owning a business that has been around longer than he has been alive.

So it was understandable that Screech, 64, felt a little wistful when he announced Friday that he would close Greggs Furniture & Upholstery at the end of September. “I didn’t think I would be hit like this,” Screech said in an interview in the ground-floor showroom, which is furnished with comfortable sofas and armchairs.

“We offer a lot of people a service they can’t get anywhere else,” he said. “People are so attached to old pieces of furniture and it’s so nice to see them transformed into something beautiful.”

“I find it sad that a company that has been part of Victoria for 70 years will no longer exist.”

Greggs once operated a mattress and furniture factory, but both buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1982.

The majority of custom-made furniture has been replaced by restorations and upholstery work in recent years.

“When you think about the thousands and thousands of homes in Victoria that have our furniture in them, or how we’ve helped so many people to support you, it just hits you hard. It’s a dying art – but let’s be honest, I’m not getting any younger.”

Greggs was founded by Gregg Lowe and had various locations in Victoria. Screech bought the business in 2000 from Murray Scott, the uncle of his wife Jean.

Greggs Marine Interiors, an offshoot of the original company and an independent business, serves the cruise ship industry and continues to be run by the Scott family.

The store at 2333 Government Street, near Bay Street, is expected to close with a garage sale through Sept. 27. It will likely continue in an online version, with Screech collecting projects for crafters working from home.

Screech, who was a councillor and mayor of View Royal for 20 years, said the decision to close was due to a combination of factors. He was not ready to sign a new five-year lease on the property at this point in his life. He said it had been difficult to attract skilled workers and crime and street disorder in the north downtown area had “just gotten out of control”.

And he has political ambitions: in the next election he is seeking the Liberal nomination at the federal level.

“I think the company’s day has come,” Screech said.

He said crime in the Queen and Government Street area had reached a point where “I am no longer prepared to deal with it and our staff, who are largely women, are not prepared for it and should not have to deal with it.”

“Vehicles are being vandalized. There are people in the backyard who refuse to leave when asked. People have come into the store and yelled at us and our customers. I no longer feel comfortable leaving the employees here alone.”

Screech said he believes the city is not doing enough to support businesses in the area.

“So this is kind of the turning point for the whole decision to close,” Screech said.

He said that even though business was good and there was more than enough work to keep the business going, there was no point in continuing.

“Victoria appreciates well-made, quality furniture and is happy to have the upholstery re-done several times, but it is difficult to recruit skilled workers,” says Screech.

“Years ago I was able to see an ad in Toronto (star) for the workforce that is needed in Victoria and people would queue up to come here, but with current property prices, for a job that pays $35 an hour, that’s just not the case. They can’t afford to live here.”

The decision to close is also based on the desire to return to politics.

In May, he announced his intention to seek the federal Liberal nomination in the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke constituency, which includes his hometown of View Royal, and face Sooke Mayor Maja Tait, who was endorsed federally by the NDP nearly a year ago.

“The federal elections are in 14 months and I want to take my time,” said Screech.

There is no official endorsement from the Liberal Party yet, but Screech said the decision is expected in the fall.

Screech said his years in local politics and as a small business owner had given him “a deep understanding of the desires, concerns and hopes of the people of this region.”

(email protected)

>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: (email protected)