Western HBC stores at risk of being lost

COVID-19 has muted many of the ordinary but pleasurable things about life that we took for granted.

Going to a movie, enjoying a meal in a restaurant, browsing through a busy store and picking up merchandise whether it be a sweater or a crock pot that catches your eye.

For decades, the busiest stores were the iconic Hudson Bay department stores that anchored city centres in the West, and stood as storied reminders of the origins of those cities and Canada in general.

But they are on their way out, which means another concrete reminder of this country’s history (a much more significant reminder than statues of politicians) will disappear with them.

It became clear 15 years ago, when it was sold to a U.S investor, that the Hudson Bay Company had become just like any other weakened corporation — ripe for takeover. Its unique place in Canadian history was just another trinket up for trade. But at least we still had the buildings. Grand old dames of architecture like the six-storey department store on legendary Portage Avenue in Winnipeg.

The downtown Edmonton store featured unique hand carvings over each entrance that depicted scenes from the adventurous history of Canada’s most famous trading company.

The Calgary store, which opened in 1913, and was a prototype for five other western Hudson Bay department stores, features a block-long portico with graceful arches.

But these important landmarks are shutting down one by one.

The Edmonton downtown store is set to close any day now. Last week, the company announced that the Winnipeg store, which currently uses only two of its six floors will close completely in February.

Who knows how long before the remaining four of the original six — Hudson Bay stores in Saskatoon, Regina, Vancouver and Calgary — will also be shuttered?

It will be a sad day because those buildings hearken back to the origins of the cities they anchor.

Fort Edmonton, Fort Vancouver, Fort Garry (which became Winnipeg) were all key Hudson Bay trading posts when the company was at the height of its power and gathering furs, especially beaver pelts for those fashionable European top hats, from Indigenous and Métis traders.

Little known fact: At one point, the Winnipeg store had the largest fur vault in Western Canada and was able to store 12,000 fur coats. Not much call for that these days.

The Hudson’s Bay Co. was incorporated in England in 1670 to seek a Northwest Passage to the Pacific, to occupy the lands adjacent to Hudson Bay and to carry on any commerce with those lands that might prove profitable.

Those lands proved to be very profitable for over 200 years.

By 1870, the company’s territories, which comprised virtually all of present-day Canada except for the Maritime provinces and part of Ontario and Quebec, were sold to the Canadian government in exchange for 300,000 pounds.

But HBC retained large landholdings on the prairies and the parcels adjacent to its trading posts as part of the deal. Since many were located in developing urban centres in the West and North, HBC became one of the most prominent developers in Western Canada.

HBC also managed to secure mineral rights for its huge portfolio of western real estate — some 4.5 million acres in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta — and at one point was Canada’s third largest oil and gas producer.

Like the CPR, the Hudson Bay Co. profited handsomely from its western land holdings.

In the meantime, the Indigenous and Métis people who were key to HBC’s trading success were herded onto small reserves and settlements and basically consigned to live in poverty.

For better or worse, it’s all part of our history, especially in the West: HBC didn’t have a store in Toronto until 1974.

Suburban malls, online shopping and now COVID-19 have all taken their toll on the downtown department store and the Bay is no exception.

Here’s hoping those old buildings cannot only be saved, but restored as significant, thriving historical sites that speak to Canada’s real history.

Given the valuable urban property they occupy and our somewhat cavalier attitude toward our history that may be too much to ask, but here’s hoping.