‘It’s a shame’: Vic West mourns the loss of its only community postal outlet

On a quiet Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., Victoria West resident Lisa Williamson had no idea that she was going to be one of the last people to mail a package at a community Canada Post outlet located in a Pharmasave at Westside Village.

“I’m sorry to see this go. It’s a shame and it’s so close to my home,” said Williamson.

As of noon on Tuesday, Canada Post permanently shuttered the outlet, saying it had decided not to renew its agreement with the pharmacy when it expired.

Alex Akhavan is the owner of the Pharmasave at Westside Village and has been fighting the postal outlet’s closure for months, claiming Canada Post’s decision to close the location is unjustified.

“We are revenue-generating for Canada Post and now we are waiting for contractors of Canada Post to come and take the Canada Post signs down,” said Akhavan.

The owner of the Pharmasave says the outlet consistently makes more than $300,000 a year for the Canada Post, from which he gets only a $20,000 commission. As well, the pharmacy gets the benefits of the added foot traffic due to the postal service customers.

“It’s not about one business, it’s about a community in Vic West of 8,000 residents losing a service that has been there for 16 years,” said Akhavan.

Kelly Seagram is the president of the board of directors for the Vic West Community Association.

“We’re really disappointed that our neighbourhood is losing an essential service,” said Seagram.

She says seniors in her community will be the ones most affected by the closure of the postal outlet.

“For people who want to do those essential postal services, now they will either have to go to Esquimalt or to the outlet downtown, which is harder to access if you don’t have a car, if public transit is difficult for you or if your mobility isn’t what it used to be. Then, you might have difficulty accessing those services,” said Seagram.

In Akhavan’s fight to keep the outlet alive, he has gone to great lengths, beginning with reaching out to Canada Post’s management. He then contacted the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the federal Opposition Conservative Party, all to no avail.

The only one to take up the fight was his local Member of Parliament Will Greaves, who wrote to the president and CEO of Canada Post. He also had a face-to-face meeting the minister responsible for the national postal service. That, too, did not save the Vic West outlet.

“I’m disappointed that this community post office is closing, I’ll continue working to ensure that residents of Victoria have equitable access to the postal services they rely on,” said Greaves in a statement to CTV News.

Akhavan says his fight isn’t over. He is still looking for answers as to why the Crown corporation has chosen to close an arm of its operation that generates a profit.

“We filed a Freedom of Information Act request, officially,” said Akhavan.

He has been told a response will be coming within the next 30 days, long after the location has already been closed for good.