Hudson's Bay Downtown Vancouver Store Celebrates 100 Years!

[Chadillaccc]

One interesting thing about Calgary's Bay that I don't think has ever been mentioned in the Canada section is that it is slated to undergo a major revitalization. It may have already begun, as they are doing some work on the main floor right now.

The revitalization includes the redevelopment of the top floor into a large restaurant with rooftop patio, the updating of infrastructures inside the building, and what I am hoping will be the total replacement of all exterior glass. I also think it will be connected to the future "Stephen Avenue Station" of Calgary's future 8th Avenue Subway.

[ue]

Nice. As far as mid-sized markets go, I don't think it gets better than Calgary for downtown Bay stores.

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by esquire

At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if The Bay kept the doors open for no other reason than to offset the costs of maintaining the building, and maybe to use as leverage in case the government gets involved in a redevelopment there.

So yes, I look on with envy at the thriving downtown Bay stores in Calgary and Vancouver.

Calgary's downtown Bay store is not getting the love it deserves either. The Bay has basically made the Chinook Centre Bay the unofficial flagship store for the city, and this is where firsts and flagship merchandise is put in. No Topshop for the downtown Calgary Bay as an example.

[ue]

Have you been to Calgary?

[Chadillaccc]

They opened the first TopShop in the city at the Bay Downtown in 2012, then they moved it to Chinook after the reno. The Bay is doing extremely well, even without it. It's always busy as hell when I'm there.




Edit: Here is an article about the planned restaurants for The Bay downtown...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...842/story.html


I was incorrect about the rooftop patio. However, it will be the largest streetfront patio in downtown Calgary, so that's still pretty nice. It will take up a significant portion of the South Arcade.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Denscity

How come all of the original 6 cities to get a grand Bay are in Western Canada?

Some have touched on it, but basically it's because of the state of the West in the early railroad era. There was:

a) nothing out here, and
b) NOTHING out here

You had the fur industry and a bunch of far-flung, tiny settlements. Well, HBC was one of the biggies in fur, so they already had an early distribution network and commercial links all set up. Basically they were in a pseudo-monopoly position to dominate the early retail landscape. And seeing as the West was basically empty, virtually every new immigrant needed to start over with *everything* beyond a suitcase full of clothes. The West was settled right at the apex of the industrial revolution, too, so the concept of large-scale retail and manufactured goods aligned nicely with the early settlers. You add it all up and basically the Bay was poised to run the show. I seem to recall that HBC also had land grants on the rail lines but I may be thinking of something else. It's possible they just purchased their large lots from CP.

Really, HBC in the 1885-1920 period was just like Wal-Mart today as it moves into small towns - a large, wealthy corporation that buys cheap land at unprecedented sizes, builds enormous stores that have "everything", and squeezes out whatever marginally profitable competition exists already. HBC succeeded so well because all sorts of things suddenly made sense to "buy", rather than make yourself or barter with your neighbours for. Wal-Mart succeeds because their growth came at a time of incredibly cheap manufactured goods from China. Same basic principle. Both companies made a fortune on a) volume, b) near-monopoly status, and c) sophisticated distribution networks.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Echoes

I would say that the 1960 building is worth preserving (which it has been).

Is that facade original 1960s? It just looks like a massive re-do but that may be because I'm looking at so many early 20th century comparisons.

[J.OT13]

-HBC Saskatoon mid-60s.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darrellinyvr/8307591962/

-Eaton's Winnipeg: on the one hand, the loss of the Eaton store brought on a game changer for Winnipeg (MTS Centre and the Jets). On the other hand, it could have been built somewhere else. Either in a parking lot or, if it had to be Eaton's, I would have preferred the Annex be demolished.

-HBC downtown Winnipeg: I saw this article from January 2013

'Original' Hudson's Bay Company Flagship Store May Close Soon
January 10, 2013
by RETAIL-INSIDER

We've gotten word from Hudson's Bay Company management that the company's 'original' flagship location in Downtown Winnipeg may be closing soon. Our source tells us The Hudson's Bay Company is seeking to transfer ownership the building to the Manitoba Government in exchange for tax benefits. Hudson's Bay would like to sell the building but its value is limited due to the estimated $8million/per-floor renovation cost to convert it to offices.






The Downtown Winnipeg store was the 'original' Hudson's Bay Company flagship store, with seven levels and a trading area of about 675,000 square feet. It opened in 1926 and cost $5million, an enormous sum at the time. It competed with the neighbouring 885,000 square foot Eaton's Store. The Winnipeg Bay store lost its company flagship status when the then-Toronto flagship Hudson's Bay store opened at The Hudson's Bay Centre, 44 Bloor Street West, in 1974.




The current store has several unoccupied floors and uses only about 240,000 square feet of the building's 656,000 square feet. The store had a 67,000 sq ft Zellers store located in its basement briefly, now closed. Today it was announced that the stores sixth-floor Paddlewheel Restaurant will not be renovated (it was supposed to be kept open), leading to our source contacting us by email.

We found this wonderful description of the store's opening, as written by George Siamandas of the blog 'Winnipeg Time Machine' (we underlined parts we found interesting):





OPENING DAY

The Hudson Bay store opened in Winnipeg on November 18 1926. People lined up for blocks around; one of the plate glass windows was broken and car loads of police were on hand to maintain decorum. Fifty thousand Winnipeggers went through the store that first day. But only the basement and first two floors were complete for opening but at least the store was ready for the Christmas trade. Two thousand staff were there to help the throng of opening day customers.



The first customer was Mayor Ralph Webb who bought a silk tie for $1.25. A Mrs Schultz of Pritchard Ave actually was the first customer in line. In the lower level was a supermarket: sirloin steak was 22 cents a pound, corn flakes a dime and sugar sold for 72 cents for a ten pound bag. The lower level also housed hardware, sporting goods. Clothing however was surprisingly expensive at prices of $15 to $150 for women's dresses. There was even a 3,000 volume lending library on the second floor. The Bay would make 5 tons of Christmas cake for the Christmas season and was the biggest fuel dealer in Winnipeg delivering coal till 1960 when gas was introduced.




BUILDING THE NEW STORE

A lot of men worked round the clock to dig the Bay's foundations by shovel, horse drawn scrapers as well as the two steam shovels on the site. Most of the Bay was built with a "Made in Manitoba" philosophy where as many goods as possible were bought here in Manitoba. The Tyndall stone, 1 M bricks, plaster from Gypsumville, the steel frame from Selkirk's Rolling Mills, 2 M board feet of lumber from Winnipegosis. And as a modern fire-proof building, it had 32 km sprinkler pipes and 8,000 heads.




At one time it had its one well which at 600 feet was the deepest in Canada. While not of drinking quality, it was used to flush toilets and to air condition the air. It was used until 1971 at which time it was capped off because the water had turned salty in efforts to dig deeper. Originally the Bay had twelve elevators. Half were removed in 1948 to install elevators. In the 1930s a beacon on top of the Bay helped guide airplanes to the city as air mail service was inaugurated.




WHY THE BAY WAS SO LONG IN COMING

For a company that had owned a lot of North America (All the land that drained into Hudson Bay) and all of downtown Winnipeg till after 1870, it took the HBC a long time to build a modern store - 21 years after Eatons. WW1 delayed it at least ten years. And Winnipeg seemed to have headed into decline by the 1920s. The original store built in 1881 had been on Main St and York. But the Bay saw the reality of retailing lay on Portage Ave. The first real urban store was in Vancouver in 1887. Donald A Smith who ran the Bay then imported managers from Harrods to run these stores. The trading posts evolved into department stores as the west filled up with new settlers.




At one time the Bay owned everything in downtown Winnipeg and built on the western boundary of its reserve. Ironically it had to repurchase the land from a Col Pierce who made a bundle from advance knowledge of the store's coming before the Bay's own real estate people knew of the store's construction. Hudson Bay did not become a Canadian company till 1970 when it became headquartered in Winnipeg. It had previously been London-based. In 1979 Ken Thompson bought 76% of Bay shares. They sold off the 178 northern stores in 1987 after losing money.

"The Hudson's Bay Company is the oldest commercial corporation in North America, and is one of the oldest in the world.




It as once the de facto government in parts of North America before European-based colonies and nation states existed. It was at one time the largest landowner in the world, with Rupert's Land being a large part of North America. From its longtime headquarters at York Factory on Husdon Bay, it controlled the fur trade throughout much of British-controlled North America for several centuries, undertaking early exploration. Its traders and trappers forged early relationship with many groups of First Nations/Native Americans and its network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in many areas of Western Canada and the United States.





In the late 19th century, its vast territory became the largest component in the newly formed Dominion of Canada, in which the company was the largest private landowner. With the decline of the fur trade, the company evolved into mercantile business selling vital goods to settlers in the Canadian West. Today the company is best known for its department stores throughout Canada.




The Hudson's Bay Company Archives are located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They also classify the Bay in downtown Winnipeg as the flagship store."

Times change. Fortunately it sounds like at least the building will be salvaged and not torn down like Winnipeg's Eaton's store. For more on Winnipeg's Eaton's store, check out this wonderful blog called The Department Store Museum (and click HERE for their page on Winnipeg's Bay flagship)

Hudson's Bay Company website: www.hbc.com

http://www.retail-insider.com/retail...-flagship.html

-Why HBC opened its first stores in Western Canada: Canadian Cities in Ontario and Québec already had plenty of large, locally owned department stores. As I said in the twin building thread and a few mentioned here, HBC's downtown flagships in TO, OT and MTL were all acquired from local chains that were bought out (Simpson's, Freiman's and Morgan's respectively).

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Is that facade original 1960s? It just looks like a massive re-do but that may be because I'm looking at so many early 20th century comparisons.

Yes, it's mostly original. Thanks to J.OT13 for posting a vintage photo above. As you can see, the corner mural and stone cladding with the punched square hole pattern were retained (except where windows were added of course). It has a 60s modernist flavour that I absolutely love (EDIT: Which I think meshes well with the contemporary elements that were added).

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Echoes

The HBC store in Saskatoon, built in 1960, replaced a 1913 building housing the company at that location. In 2000, HBC vacated the building to take over the former Eaton's space in Midtown Plaza. The future of the building was in limbo until 2004, when it was purchased by a developer who converted it into loft-style condominiums. The ground floor was retained as retail/office space, windows were punched through the windowless facade, and a 5th floor was added. The mural on the corner is original to the building.


IMG_2950 by echoes320, on Flickr

And yes, that's a Fiat dealership on the corner.

Really cool building, I like it better modified than the original.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Echoes

Yes, it's mostly original. Thanks to J.OT13 for posting a vintage photo above. As you can see, the corner mural and stone cladding with the punched square hole pattern were retained (except where windows were added of course). It has a 60s modernist flavour that I absolutely love (EDIT: Which I think meshes well with the contemporary elements that were added).

Neat, thanks guys. I love it much more with the changes.

[artvandelay]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Calgary's downtown Bay store is not getting the love it deserves either. The Bay has basically made the Chinook Centre Bay the unofficial flagship store for the city, and this is where firsts and flagship merchandise is put in. No Topshop for the downtown Calgary Bay as an example.

The downtown Bay has a better high-end menswear selection than Chinook, and a Topman section as well. It needs some renovations, but I'd put it on par with Chinook.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Some have touched on it, but basically it's because of the state of the West in the early railroad era. There was:

a) nothing out here, and
b) NOTHING out here

You had the fur industry and a bunch of far-flung, tiny settlements. Well, HBC was one of the biggies in fur, so they already had an early distribution network and commercial links all set up. Basically they were in a pseudo-monopoly position to dominate the early retail landscape. And seeing as the West was basically empty, virtually every new immigrant needed to start over with *everything* beyond a suitcase full of clothes. The West was settled right at the apex of the industrial revolution, too, so the concept of large-scale retail and manufactured goods aligned nicely with the early settlers. You add it all up and basically the Bay was poised to run the show. I seem to recall that HBC also had land grants on the rail lines but I may be thinking of something else. It's possible they just purchased their large lots from CP.

That, and Rupert's Land. HBC nominally owned an enormous swath of land that would become Western Canada. They had fur trading operations in the west going back to the 17th century. Many towns and cities in Western Canada were founded as Hudson's Bay Company trade posts or forts; for example Winnipeg (Fort Garry), Edmonton and Victoria were originally HBC forts.

[samne]

I was very impressed with Downtown Calgary's HBC.

The Bay is really going through some renaissance. Stores are getting updated. I like the new font and signage. The store is much better organized with improved merchandise and excellent sales.

Im a fan.

[ue]

^^ Yup. What is now Downtown Edmonton, was originally a parcel of land owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, with Fort Edmonton around where the Legislature is today. When the Town of Edmonton was originally settled, in 1892, it was on the land directly east of the HBC territory, whose dividing line is now 97 Street. The Town of Edmonton grew first in the areas now known as the Quarters and McCauley. Eventually, the Town bought the land to the west and downtown gradually shifted westwards.

One interesting tidbit of history is that before most of Edmonton's roads changed to a numbered system in 1914, the original townsite, east of 101st St (then First Street) had streets running west-east and avenues running north-south, while the newer settlement west of 97 Street used the current city-wide system of having streets run north-south and avenues west-east. So you'd be heading west down Elizabeth St and then all of a sudden it'd turn into Athabasca Ave. Also, because of this dual system, and the fact that streets were numbered and avenues named, there were two first streets, second streets, etc. although they never intersected.

https://archivesphotos.edmonton.ca/P...Mjg3NDg=&rCFU=

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by 93JC

That, and Rupert's Land. HBC nominally owned an enormous swath of land that would become Western Canada. They had fur trading operations in the west going back to the 17th century. Many towns and cities in Western Canada were founded as Hudson's Bay Company trade posts or forts; for example Winnipeg (Fort Garry), Edmonton and Victoria were originally HBC forts.

Yup. I got that mixed up with the original CPR land grants. The HBC basically owned much of the land that would eventually become "downtown" in a lot of Western cities. Made it pretty easy to create a large retail enterprise (plus it made them very wealthy as these cities grew).