In a long-awaited move, Kelowna’s Towne Centre Post Office opened the doors at its new location on Jan. 31.
“Initially planned for last fall, the move was postponed several times,” according to Peter Lepold, the publicity chair with the local Kelowna & District Stamp Club. “COVID supply issues apparently were the main issue.” Located since 2004 at 571 Bernard Ave., the post office moved a couple of doors down to what’s known as “The District,” a boutique mall at 565 Bernard Ave.
“One could call it a homecoming of sorts,” said Lepold, who added the post office was housed at 565 Bernard earlier in the 1990s. “The difference was that instead of ‘The District,’ it was called the Towne Centre Mall.” In between, for about five years before 2004, the post office was at 591 Bernard Ave. Lepold and his club created a Picture Postage stamp last fall to commemorate the recent relocation, and they’ve since printed “a small number” of covers.
“The stamp was cancelled on Jan. 31 with the old location cancel, and then I went back the following day to the new location and cancelled the stamp a second time with the new address cancel. One could call the envelope a ‘last and first day,’ or a ‘return,’ cover.”