The history behind the Hudson’s Bay Company goes back to long before Canada was Canada. But technically HBC has not been a Canadian company for two decades and is owned by New York-based NRDC Equity Partners.
Facing debts of about $1 billion, HBC filed for creditor protection on March 7 putting more than 9,000 jobs at risk.
As of March 24, HBC liquidation sales were underway.
Dr. Sheila McManus, a professor in the Department of History and Religion says the company’s story starts in the late 1600s, when the King of England gave everything that was covered by the Hudson’s Bay Company to Prince Rupert. McManus states at the time there were European fur trappers in the region who were going around Europe, trying to get others interested in the fur trading potential in the area that would become Northern Canada but Rupert’s Land at the time was gifted to the prince.
“It was a monopoly for centuries and as the fur trade expands, their initial monopolistic control over Rupert’s Land expands. They are active in the way they’re halfway between, a commercial venture and political organization. They are the company on the ground, providing a lot of local administration across Western Canada, and even the West Coast by the 19th century.”
McManus says that the initial grant in 1670 played a role in the creation of Canada in the 19th century, with the Hudson’s Bay Company being the first supplier of the country. This commercial background and trade monopoly helped the company transition from the initial fur trading outposts in the North to the national chain of stores known today. With that the Hudson’s Bay brand became a symbol that was associated with Canada in the 19th and then early 20th century, with a lot of Hudson’s Bay Company buildings going into cities such as Calgary and Winnipeg.
“They’re the first big, fancy department stores certainly in a lot of Western cities. I grew up in Calgary, and you think of that original, you know, the old Bay building downtown, similarly in Winnipeg, you know, these are kind of the early 20th century, like I say, that big, fancy department store with the fancy architecture is a real feature of a lot of Canadian cities by the early 20th century.”
What a lot of Canadians have forgotten is that it hasn’t been Canadian for about 20 years. It was sold to American businessmen 20 years ago, notes the historian.
“However, [the Bay] always has been very good at sort of capitalizing on Canadian nationalism… For many of the Olympics, they are the distributor of the Canada Olympic memorabilia and that kind of thing. So, the Bay has managed to still be seen as a Canadian company and something that is, you know, fundamental to Canadian identity or retailing, even though they were sold to Americans 20 years ago, and I think kind of as a marketing strategy, that’s really interesting.”
McManus adds another business that was originally Canadian-owned and continues to highlight Canadian values is Tim Hortons. The company merged with Burger King in 2014 under what at the time was the new parent company Restaurant Brands International. The majority of that company is owned by a Brazilian-American investment firm, which means for over a decade the company has followed a similar marketing style to the Hudson’s Bay Company of capitalizing on its image as a Canadian brand with Canadian values, even though it is not owned by a Canadian company.
“I think it’s just, yeah, it’s going to be weird to see the Hudson’s Bay Company possibly disappear from Canada, but they haven’t been Canadian for 20 years.”
McManus says people will likely have mixed emotions, as The Bay was one of the last remaining department stores around.
In 2023 the Hudson’s Bay Company announced it was re-launching Canadian chain Zellers through a pop-up format in HBC locations across Canada.
Target attempted to fill the gap in the Canadian market but closed after two years and most recently Sears Canada closed in 2018.
Written by: Kass Patterson – Vista Radio
Related reading: Canada’s oldest business could soon be history
Also: Celebrating the hardy Canadian spirit
