Right before the end of May, the Town of Smithers made a major announcement about a property space purchase that they had recently finalized with the announcement also disclosing what they will be doing with the space.
“The summary is that the Town of Smithers has acquired the building that is currently the home of Heartstrings and the short story is that it will be the future home of the Smithers Public Library” - Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill
The future version of the Smithers Public Library will be located at 3761 3rd Avenue and is set to get additional publicly accessible spaces that will tailored for usage in the library, but not before being shaped by public consultation.
Funds for this project are mainly being provided by the Northwest B.C. Regional Funding Agreement but some friends of the library have managed to raise and subsequently donate over $500,000 in order to support this purchase.
But as for anyone who is worried about the future of the Heartstrings Home Decor & Gifts store, the Town provided some reassurances on that front as well.
“So Heartstrings will stay where it is into early 2026 and then at that point, they have identified another location on Main Street so this much loved business will stay downtown in Smithers and that point, the Town will take over the building and look at the next steps in terms of making it appropriate as the home for the Library” - Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill
Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill also said that most of the comments on the announcement from fans of the library and the store have been quite positive so far.
And while Heartstrings is set to move in mid January of next year to 1207 Main Street, a move that will see them close down for about 10 days, it’s not currently clear yet as to when the new version of the library will be open for public use.