Victoria Chinese community seeks buyer for North America's longest-running Chinese business

For the last 166 years, the 500 block of Fisgard Street in downtown Victoria has been better known as Chinatown.

“We are the oldest in Canada and we’re the second oldest in North America,” said Charlayne Thornton-Joe, visitor experience and facilities coordinator for the Chinese Canadian Museum in Fan Tan Alley.

Second only to San Francisco’s Chinatown.

One hundred and thirty-five years ago, Loy Sing, a Chinese butcher shop, opened its doors, serving up barbecued pork, duck and chicken to its loyal customers.

Outside of keeping live ducks and chickens in the back, the business model hasn’t changed much in all these years.

“It is the longest continuously running Chinese business in all of North America,” said Thornton-Joe.

Loy Sing has been owned by Daniel Zheng and his wife Shelly Rong for the past 28 years, but now the couple is planning to retire.

Over the past few years, Canada’s oldest Chinatown is beginning to look more like a multicultural town as French, Japanese and Mexican eateries have moved in.

“We have fabulous shops that aren’t Chinese-run and they add to the vibrancy of our Chinatown,” said Thornton-Joe.

There is now a push from within the Chinese community to find a buyer who will continue to run the business as a Chinese butcher shop.

“We want to be able to still say it is the longest, continuously running Chinese business in North America,” said Thornton-Joe.

The asking price is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $75,000 and Zheng is willing to hold off on retirement for training purposes.

“I can talk to them and teach them how to how to do it,” said Zheng.

Loy Sing, located in Victoria’s Chinatown, is the longest continuously running Chinese business in North America. (CTV News)

The humble owner says business has always been good – putting his three children through school and maintaining a cultural connection to customers and his city. After all of that, he says it’s now time for his family to rest.

Municipal rules state that Chinatown will never change, no matter what kind of businesses are on the street and what nationality their owners are. It will remain Chinatown.

Now the push is on to keep the butcher shop traditional for history's sake. It is about keeping a physical connection to the past that tells the story about how the street was born.