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Your Weekly Clover Valley Newspaper Treeland Realty
January 10, 2013 ❖ www.CloverdaleReporter.com ❖ 604-575-2405
Downtown icon signs off Cloverdale’s longest-operating family business to close its doors
By Jennifer Lang The sign at Dann’s Electronics, one of Cloverdale’s most recognizable symbols, is coming down this month, and with it, Surrey’s longest-serving businessman will be calling it a day. The glorious neon sign with swooping red letters – a fixture above the 5657 176 Street storefront since the 1950s – is a rental. And at 88, owner and operator Allan Dann says it’s time to retire. He put the heritage building up for sale in September. The new owner is an antiques dealer expanding out of Fort Langley. Any merchandise from the sales and service business that doesn’t get snapped up during Dann’s closing out sale will probably go to her, although where the remaining stock of rare and antique parts will end up is less certain. The eclectic shop, graced with a highceilinged showroom, along with a bank vault that’s used as a storeroom, was filled with vintage and new flatscreen TVs, stereos, and, until recently, home appliances. There’s a section devoted to vacuum parts and sale, plus bike sales and repairs, too. Entering Dann’s Electronics is like stepping back in time, making it a popular back drop for film and TV productions, most recently an episode of the Sci-fi cult series, Fringe. The director didn’t change a thing,
and even persuaded Allan to appear in a scene. His dad, Ernie, started a bicycle repair business in 1921, soon moving to Cloverdale, where he set up shop on the Pacific Highway in what was then the centre of Surrey. The business – originally called Ernest H. Dann – branched out into wiring homes, businesses and farms for electricity. “The old joke was that dad got into bicycles and then he got into wiring,” remembers Allan, explaining how Ernie needed a little extra help, so he asked his wife to look after the books and the front end. “She said sure, ok. So I started here. I was in a cradle, so I started young,” Allan chuckles. “And no minimum wage.” The business has been in the same location at 5657 176 Street since 1932. Originally a Royal Bank, and then a government liquor store, the two-storey, wood frame building had accommodations for the bank manager upstairs. The family – Ernie, mom, and young Allan, moved in. He grew up in downtown Cloverdale, and went to school at what was then Surrey’s only high school, which was later named after Lord Tweedsmuir. He forged many fond memories along the way. “Cloverdale was a great place to grow up – any small town is. You knew everybody.” There was a blacksmith’s across the street to the south. “I was always over there, be-
JENNIFER LANG PHOTO
Businessman Allan Dann, 88, is closing shop and retiring later this month. This Saturday, an open house is planned from 1-5 p.m. at Dann’s Electronics, at 5657 176 Street.
cause it was interesting. I came back with new words.” By the time Allan was in high school, he was working on weekends wiring barns and chicken houses. “Whatever had to be done.”
For fun, he and his pals would hop the Interurban to Langley to go to the movies. It was ten cents one way. They’d walk the three miles home.
See TREASURE TROVE / Page 6
Thieves wipe out family’s baby photos By Jennifer Lang A young Cloverdale family is reeling after thieves broke into their home last Friday night, going through all of their belongings in search of loot to steal. Returning home Jan. 4 after dinner with family in Fleetwood, Gary and Gurprit Sohi were devastated to realize they’d been robbed. “It looked like a tornado had hit our top floor. Clothing and anything and everything was ripped out,” Gary said, describing how the thieves meticulously went from room to room, rifling through their closets and drawers, taking anything of value – jewelry, cash, electronics.
New parents Gurprit and Gary Sohi with their baby boy Manav.
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But it was only after the couple discovered their camera and laptop computers were gone that the new parents realized something much more precious was taken: all of their photos of their son’s birth and pictures taken over the holidays, their first as a family in their home at 176 Street and 63 Avenue. The loss has prompted new dad Gary to appeal to the public in the hopes their family’s priceless memories will be returned, no questions asked. Missing are photographs of son Manav’s birth, their visit to the temple for important religious rites immediately following the birth
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plus images documenting the decorations family members put on their front door welcoming them home with their new baby. The Sohis are reaching out with a plea to anyone who might know something. They hope someone will have a heart and return the 32-gig SD card from Gary’s Canon Rebel SLR. Contact him at g_sohi@gmail.com. “The pictures are actually still on the camera,” he said. The couple is so shaken by the invasion they were forced to spend two nights with family
See ALARM / Page 3
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