Tilley Vancouver

Alex's brother John and his wife Barbara owned this store and had many good years in Vancouver! Here's an excerpt from the book The Endurable Alex Tilley about their modest start:
Tilley West
Alex’s brother John and John’s wife Barbara were living in Vancouver in 1983 when John started helping Alex with the boat shows. John was working in the computer industry and, like his brother, he thought the Hat was a fun sideline, not a viable business. After a few years, however, John started to see more promise in the so-called sideline as he witnessed increased enthusiasm and improved sales.
In May 1985, John and Barbara opened a Tilley Endurables store in their basement, operating by appointment and using homemade display racks constructed with plywood and PVC pipe.
Barbara wrote: “Having a store in our home basement...was the test to see if a retail business was possible. As a young couple with kids and little money, we had to change our unfinished basement into a display space. I’m still amazed when I remember that people would phone for an appointment to come to the house. Some of these brave folks are still clients!”
In September 1985, John and Barbara took the plunge and opened a storefront on Pemberton Avenue in North Vancouver. Barbara said: “We decided to take a chance on the future and rented the Pemberton store. The kids were happy since they no longer had to disappear whenever clients arrived. What a great-looking store! It was long and narrow, but all ours. I can’t remember if we had one or two changing rooms, certainly no more than that, and the bathroom may have been included in that number. Even back then, we had a lot of inventory so we eventually rented the office upstairs for storage. It was great fun dropping boxes of clothes over the balcony.”
Tilley West thrived for many years at different locations in Vancouver and eventually John and Barbara’s children Nikki and Jeff took over the business when their parents retired. To show his support, Alex granted his brother and family exclusivity within the city of Vancouver.