Shoppers look for pieces of history at Hudson’s Bay stores

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Empty shelves and idle escalators greet shoppers on Monday, poking at Hudson Bay stores in search of bargains and maybe a bit of history.

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In Edmonton, some shelves from two bay locations were picked out, as only a few older men and women took advantage of 40%, 50%, 60%, and even 70% discounts.

The company’s wool blanket has green, red, yellow and indigo stripes mostly sold out on a white background. Blankets were first made in the mid-19th century.

“It’s a crying shame,” said Susan Carpenter, a shopper. “It’s going to be a huge loss.”

Carpenter was originally from Montreal, and her grandmother worked as a switchboard operator in a store in Quebec’s largest city. Carpenter was still working there during Christmas in 1971.

“It’s important,” she said. “To me, it’s still important.”

Hudson’s Bay Co., the country’s oldest retailer.

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The Ontario Superior Court hearing ended Monday without finalizing whether the company could liquidate its remaining $315 million in inventory.

Edmonton shopper Amanda Valette said her mother once took off her in-store daycare when she was a child while shopping in the 1960s.

She said that although I saw the store going, it was time because the price became too expensive.

“People don’t go to department stores and spend $300 on tops,” she said.

In downtown Vancouver, a small number of customers are outside waiting for the Bay’s six-story flagship store to open. These include Julie Bagyan, a brand loyalist for more than 35 years.

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Hudson Bay was the first department store she met after moving to Canada in 1988 from the Philippines.

“My best memory is that when they have sales on Boxing Day, I line up for it because the brand items I want to buy can get a good discount,” Bagyan said.

Inside the store – the BC flagship of the province’s 16 branches – it seems to be the business as usual. However, neither the elevator nor the escalator worked, allowing customers to drag six stairs to the men’s clothing area at the top.

Historian Stephen Bown says the loss of the Bay is the end of an institution that has existed since 1670, nearly 200 years before Canada was born.

“It’s an architectural (and) physical portal that can understand the whole past.” Company: The rise and fall of the Hudson Bay Empire.

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He said no company is deeply entangled with Canadian history, and worse. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly pondered the annexation of Canada and transformed it into the “51st state” of the United States, which is even more poignant.

Bowen said when the border between Canada and the United States was settled, the Hudson Bay Company provided a “Legal and Cultural Foundation” for Great Britain’s argument against the beliefs of the United States, the country’s right to control North America.

“In a sense, it stopped us from becoming the 51st state at that time, although it would be more like the 46th state at the time,” said Canmore, based in Alta.

Despite this, the company’s downfall means Canada will lose its artifacts from its existence, Bowen said.

“There is no obvious reminder, and it is afraid it may get lost.”

– With documents from Aaron Sousa and David Boles of Edmonton, Brittany Hobson of Winnipeg and Nono Shen of Vancouver.

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