One of the Downtown Eastside’s better-known pawnshops has applied to move a few blocks east.

For just under a decade, Peter’s Buy & Sell operated at the corner of West Hastings and Carrall streets, adjacent to Pigeon Park.

It closed its doors after large chunks of concrete fell from the building’s upper level in August 2014.

The Merchants Bank building, as it’s known, was constructed at 1 West Hastings Street in 1913. According to the city’s heritage conservation program, the three-storey tower holds historical significance for the role it played in Vancouver’s early commercial district that revolved around Carrall, Water, and Cordova streets.

Today, the building is owned by Concord Pacific and the nonprofit Portland Hotel Society (PHS). In 2006, the City of Vancouver agreed to help Concord and PHS restore the building, but the plan has been slow to get off the ground.

Peter’s Buy & Sell has filed a development application to reopen at 388 East Hastings Street, four blocks down from its original location at Pigeon Park.

According to a letter accompanying the application, the new business will operate just as the old store did, selling a wide range of second-hand goods that include everything from jewellery and furniture to clothing, cookware, and mobile phones. (The application adds that goods brought to the store during the day will be reported to police on a nightly basis.)

“Peter had previously managed a second-hand dealer store (Bargain Centre) for 9 years and would like to establish a business that is similar to his previous job,” it reads.