An important chapter in Canadian history has almost reached its concluding sentence. Hudson’s Bay Company, the oldest and largest continuously operating company in North America, is almost ready to take its final breath.
HBC filed for bankruptcy protection in March. A massive liquidation of its holdings began, while an attempt to keep six stores afloat proved unsuccessful. HBC closed its 80 stores, along with three Saks and 13 Saks Off 5th stores, on June 1. The sale of its trademarks, including the rights to its name, coat of arms, stripe pattern and catchphrases like “Bay Days” and “lowest price is the law” (from the Zellers chain), to Canadian Tire for $30 million was approved on Tuesday.
There are still a few things to be sorted out. This includes a forthcoming auction of more than 4,400 art pieces and artifacts (including its royal charter) run by Heffel Gallery.
The Canadian Press reported on April 24 that the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has attempted to stop the auction proceedings altogether. They’ve suggested the collection may include items of “profound cultural, spiritual, and historical significance to First Nations people.” AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson also told CBC News that some HBC items “could very well be sacred.” This could potentially lead to a court battle that could drag on for months – and possibly years.
Putting this matter aside, the 355-year-old company is definitely on its last legs.
It was King Charles II who established a royal charter on May 2, 1670 that incorporated the Hudson’s Bay Company. “We do make ordain, constitute, establish, confirm, and declare, by these Presents, and that by the same Name of Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson’s Bay,” the charter stated in part, “they shall have perpetual Succession, and that they and their Successors, by the name of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson’s Bay, be, and at all Times hereafter shall be, personable and capable in Law to have, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy and retain, Lands, Rents, Privileges, Liberties, Jurisdictions, Franchises, and Hereditaments, of what Kind, Nature or Quality soever they be, to them and their Successors; and also to give, grant, demise, alien, assign and dispose Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, and to do and execute all and singular other Things by the same Name that to them shall or may appertain to do.”
HBC was the lifeblood of early North America due to its important historical role in the fur trade industry. It also operated as the continent’s main influencer and de facto government. This was in spite of the fact that its size and scope on Rupert’s Land in British North America was a fraction of its major competitors.
Scott P. Stephen’s Masters and Servants: The Hudson’s Bay Company and its North American Workforce, 1668-1786 noted the Royal African Company had eighteen factories, forty ships, employed over 300 European men and had African slaves. The East India Company had a dozen stations, employed around 200 agents (or factors) and built two shipyards on the Thames River by 1620 within its first two decades of existence. HBC controlled “only one factory and employed no more than 70 men” in a twenty-year span. Even after it achieved inland expansion in 1774, “HBC’s 530 servants at the end of the century were still just a minor extension of the British labour supply.”
In time, the six trading posts established in Rupert House, Moose Factory, Fort Albany, New Severn, York Factory and Fort Churchill became vital and viable financial components. A mode of exchange known as “made beaver” was used for animal pelts and other trade goods. Fur trappers from the First Nations communities built important trade relationships with HBC. The Nine Years’ War between England and France led to the latter assuming the trading posts and HBC not having to pay dividends for over 20 years. While there were competitors such as the North West Company, which merged with HBC in 1821 after the British government intervened, the fur trade monopoly was largely the domain of Hudson’s Bay.
Once the monopoly collapsed, HBC shifted gears and focused on department stores. The first of its original six stores was opened in 1881 in Winnipeg. “The front section was used for retail business, while the back and upper floors were used for the storage of furs and general merchandise,” according to the HBCHeritage website, while additions were built “from time to time for office purposes.” HBC was restructured into three departments – land sales, fur trade and retail – by 1910, and shifted largely to retail three years later. Other chains were acquired, including Simpsons, Shop-Rite, Woodward’s and K-Mart Canada.
American investor Jerry Zucker’s purchase of HBC for over $1 billion in 2006 turned out to be a pivotal moment. Zucker bought out 25 Zellers locations, along with Saks and Germany’s Galeria Kaufhof, as a means of expanding its influence and profits. He died unexpectedly in 2008, which led the company to being sold to another U.S. investor, Richard Baker and NRDC Equity Partners. They owned the department store chain Lord & Taylor and were looking to expand. The new owners attempted to increase the size and stature of Home Outfitters locations. HBC went public and was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2012, but returned to being a private company in 2020. Baker and NRDC also spun off HBC’s American assets into Saks Global, which led to a $2.65 billion purchase of the Neiman Marcus Group last July.
Unfortunately, it was all for naught.
Modern consumers have become less interested in shopping at large department stores and more interested in online shopping. This was especially true (and necessary) during COVID-19, and little has changed since that time. HBC, similar to once-powerful department store chains like Eaton’s, Simpsons and Sears, had become expendable in spite of its best efforts to survive in the marketplace. Its history and iconic brands and colours had taken a backseat to online giants like Amazon, eBay, Walmart and others. There was no turning back, and no road to recovery.
Will Canadians miss Hudson’s Bay Company? Maybe from a nostalgic point of view in the short term, but that feeling will dissipate in short order. Times are a-changin’ in the Great White North. The house that held the fur trade in the palm of its hands has witnessed the mighty beaver build a dam with completely different materials. That’s why the historic lights in HBC’s department stores will never be turned on again.
Michael Taube, a longtime newspaper columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.
