The Hudson’s Bay Company, Canada’s last department store, and Canada and North America’s oldest corporation, closed its doors in June, after 350 years in business. There’s something sad about that. So how did we get from beaver fur hats, which apparently were all the rage in 17th century London and Europe, to a bankrupt high-end fashion chain?
HBC, otherwise known as The Bay, started as a fur trading company in 1670 and received a royal charter from King Charles of England to operate in what was known then as Rupert’s Land, a huge territory which extended from northern Quebec and Ontario to the Prairie Provinces and part of the Northwest Territories. I remember hearing about the fur traders and the Hudson’s Bay Company in grade school as its history is intricately linked to the development of Canada. Americans may have been taught about the pilgrims and Christopher Columbus, but we learned about Jacques Cartier and the French settlers in Quebec in 1534, which is why Quebecers still speak French today, although the French later ceded all their rights to England, and Canada became a British colony until 1867 when we underwent our own Confederation. The two French fur traders who initially formed the HBC had initially approached the French king, but after he declined, they took their proposal to Prince Rupert, a cousin of Charles the Second, the King of England, who knew a good real estate deal when he saw one, as the HBC initially had extensive governing authority over the district lands in which it operated.
The charter granted the company a monopoly on trade and commerce over the region drained by all the rivers and streams flowing into Hudson’s Bay. This area had been of interest to the fur traders as being the best for high quality premium fur pelts, (probably due to the cold weather and the frozen sea to the north) and wanting to avoid the cost of transporting the furs overland, two ships were commissioned to undertake the northwest passage, landing in James Bay at the south of Hudson’s Bay, where they established their first trading post.
But about those hats….in no period drama have I ever seen a hat made from beaver fur….
…..except maybe I have and just didn’t know it? They were popular across Europe during the period 1550 to 1850 because the soft yet resilient fur pelts could be made into a felted material which was easily shaped into a variety of styles, including the top hat of Dicken’s day. (you can google the preparation of the felt if you want more detail, I didn’t – the whole idea makes me feel sorry for the poor beaver, our national symbol). And with the European beaver almost extinct all eyes turned to North America as a reliable source. It was big business for Britain to the tune of L263,000 pounds shipped to Spain and Portugal alone, in an era where the type of hat you wore denoted your rank and social status.
The HBC set up many such posts to trade with the Indigenous people who traveled long distances by canoe to barter the furs they had caught for knives, tools, kettles, beads and textiles such as the popular woollen striped point blanket, (see photo below) but eventually someone had the bright idea to take the trading posts closer to the people. Initially they had competition from the North West Company, but eventually in 1821 those two companies amalgamated and then in 1870 HBC sold Rupert’s Land to Canada and focused extensively on setting up retail stores in the more populated areas as by then most of their customers were the early settlers. In 1913 they began to construct department stores, the first in Calgary. By the time they filed for creditor protection this past spring, they owned 80 large scale department stores, mostly in big city malls, and 16 Saks stores, and employed over 9000 people, many of whom had worked there for decades.
One of the more popular items of the early days was their iconic striped blanket, and Canadian Tire (another Canadian retail chain like a Home Depo plus automotive), has bought the rights to the blanket, the logos, and the historical artifacts for $34 million, a high price tag to preserve a part of Canadian history. I always thought the blankets were ugly myself, but they’re going for crazy prices on eBay now….
I guess it’s a sign of the times, but I will miss The Bay, as even though I seldom visited as the nearest store was two hours away, I did order online – mostly PJ’s, socks, bathrobes. The quality was good, and the sale prices during the biannual Bay Days were great. And where else can you go to buy sheets and towels, kitchen wares, or to try on bathing suits. (and don’t say Walmart or Amazon, as I boycott both unless I absolutely cannot find something anywhere else). I miss having everything in one place, and checking out the fit and quality before I buy, and I can’t help but think that all those trucks delivering (and picking up) items every single day in every single neighbourhood must be contributing greatly to the ozone layer depletion.
Of final note, with the melting of the polar ice cap, there has been renewed interest in the Canadian Artic as a shipping lane, as a way to get our western oil and potash to new European markets. Running a pipeline from the oil sands across the northern Prairie provinces, (which are mostly all trees anyway), to a port on Hudson’s Bay, might be a viable alternative, assuming the agreement of the aboriginal peoples. (Not likely as they protest everything, even projects which would be good economically for their communities.) It seems things may eventually come full circle again….
PS. A Chinese billionaire who relocated to British Columbia and owns a retail investment company there, has since bought 28 of the Bay leases with plans to open a new type of department store, so there may be hope yet…I just wish she had stepped in sooner.
PS. I apologize for being so far behind in Reader, but the garden is taking too much of my time. A yard neglected for four years is not a happy place! At least we had some decent rain. Next week when the heat wave hits I plan on staying inside and catching up.
thehomeplaceweb 
So many of our old department stores have closed. It’s sad. End of an era.
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I remember being a girl on vacation wit my family in Toronto [I think] and shopping in The Hudson Bay. My dad was into it, he loved those iconic striped blankets, so naturally the whole store pleased him.
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Well some people must like them as they sold well, but I prefer something plaid! But back then they probably didn’t have much choice in colors. I think the number of stripes were supposed to indicate the size of the blanket….not the number of beavers sold as is commonly thought!
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This is both interesting and very sad.
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Thanks Anne…..it is sad, but everyone is online shopping now. Thank you for saying it was interesting, as not many of my readers have commented, but I loved history and geography in school so I enjoyed researching it. I’m not sure those subjects are even part of the curriculum now, with so many other topics to teach.
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That was very interesting Joni. I can’t say I knew about the history of the Hudson Bay Company, so a fine Canadian I am! I can’t remember if I was ever in the store when I went to Downtown Toronto to the shopping district as I’m pretty sure I only went to Eaton’s and Simpsons. We never had one of those blankets they are renowned for that I can recall, but it is interesting that Canadian Tire was interested in preserving the brand and paid a hefty price to do so – wow! I like your mom’s painting.
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The painting was part of her last art exhibit, the photo doesn’t really do it justice as the blue in it is really vibrant! I wasn’t aware of the history either so had to research it, and there were plenty of online articles with it’s closing, but remember learning about the fur traders in grade school, and wondering why they would even want to hunt beavers! There’s a heat warning out today and tomorrow, as I’m sure there is for you too, so I will stay inside and do next weeks post, which will be about summer fun!
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Joni, I was just reading a story about Grandma Moses and thought of your mom. The woman referred to as “Grandma Moses” was 76 when she began painting and from age 76 through age 101, she painted 2,000 works, some which hang in the Museum of Modern Art. Pretty amazing.
I remember learning about the fur traders in grade school as well. We had a beaver at Lake Erie Metropark about five years ago and one of the park rangers asked some of us walking on a trail if we’d like to see the dam. We all said “sure” and he led us to an area where almost every tree was on the ground or “whittled” and looked like it would fall any minute. So, we saw the beaver’s handiwork and the dam and I asked why they didn’t relocate the beaver and he said “well, it is his home – it wouldn’t be right.” (What about if a tree falls on someone – it was not on the beaten path, but still.) I asked why they didn’t mention this in the Metroparks e-mail of events and info they send out and he said “well every fur trapper around would come and set a trap for that beaver, hoping to get $50.00 or more for his fur.” Kind of a bizarre conversation to be honest and I like animals, but the destruction there and some places along the trail was amazing. Not just to saplings, but big trees.
I hate this heat — it is 87 now at nearly 10:00 p.m. and I have the A/C set at 77 and it is still on more than it is off. I don’t like it freezing cold in here. My post tonight will be about sun and kind of Summer fun (if you’re a critter that is). 🙂
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I read they can be quite disruptive, but I’ve never actually seen one around here, you probably have to go farther north where there are more trees and water. I can’t believe someone would still want to trap it for a beaver pelt – ugh. My upstairs is set at 70 but it’s reading 77! My downstairs is okay though. I tried to go for a walk after supper but it was still too hot. It’s so humid the garage door opener on the wall in the garage didn’t work, sometimes the remote doesn’t work if it gets too hot and humid and I have to use the one in the car. I worked on a summer fun post today too for next week – great minds think alike! Will probably post it Wed as I’d like to get back to my Wed/thurs schedule.
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Trapping an animal for its pelt sounds does not sound like it belongs in the present day society, but that said, people get a buck and pay to have it mounted on wood to display in their living room – ugh. We had a client and my boss went to his office for a meeting and his entire office was heads of wild game mounted on the wall – not something I’d like to see and he went on one of those expeditions in Africa where you go for big game I can’t remember what he and his father bagged, a big animal, maybe a cat and he sent my boss photos of it. I don’t like this hot weather at all – my walking regimen is taking a big hit this year. I hope you can get back to your weekly schedule again Joni.
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PS. I seldom went to the Bay in downtown Toronto, as it was too expensive – it catered more to the tourist trade, whereas the one in London was more reasonably priced.
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I remember you went to school in Toronto, so thought you may have shopped there.
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I remember learning a bit about the HBC back in school, and understood that it was an odd combination of commercial enterprise and a government, all wrapped into one.
I am with you – I miss the traditional department store. Although I seldom visited one.
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I’m surprised that you would have taken that in school JP. We learned very little about US history other than the very basic things like the early explorers, Columbus, and Lewis and Clark, but nothing at all about the American Revolution or the Civil war, or how your 3 branches of government political system works. Most of my knowledge there was picked up from reading. In high school we seemed to study European history, Russia and British etc but I dropped history after grade 10, as I needed maths and sciences more. I’m afraid the pandemic killed many of the retail stores as people just got too used to ordering online, but to me it’s a hassle to return stuff, and a waste of money to keep it. The nearest Bay for me was in London, still a fairly long drive, unless you wanted to make a shopping day of it and eat at Red Lobster. It will be interesting to see what the Chinese investor lady comes up with, but if it’s too upscale it won’t work here.
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For department stores in general, I’m interested to see if they’ll survive simply because we came to our senses and realized there’s irreplaceable value in being able to see and touch the goods. I don’t want to think about how much returning is going on because consumers take a chance on online purchases. Like you Wal*Mart falls into the “if I have to” category of retail, but the thought of Macy’s going under is as connected to our culture as HBC is to yours. 300+ years; that’s an impressive run!
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I think the pandemic pretty much killed retail in general, but I hate the hassle of returning and it’s a waste of money to keep stuff that isn’t quite right, although lots of people do it as they don’t want to deal with the return process. Plus I know some companies are starting to charge for returns, another deterrent. I was in Macy’s in New York once, it was nice, much better than Saks Fifth Avenue which I was disappointed in.
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Fabulous post and my parents had that blanket. I fondly remember it from my childhood. I’ve been off WP quite a bit myself. I’m enjoying summer, you should too. We will still be here. 💕
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Thank You! You’re the second American who has told me their parents had that blanket – maybe they were for tourists! It’s been so hot here that I’m enjoying staying inside the house and reorganizing stuff for a few days….and dealing with the broken air conditioner this week….sigh….summer can start when it’s cooler!
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Joni, I found it interesting how this company started out as a fur trading business. My fourth great grandfather was from Quebec and traveled down to the Missouri area when he started a fur trading business in 1802. His name was Francois Marie Benoist. His company was Lisa and Benoist Co and in 1809 became the Missouri Fur Trading Co.
It is sad to no longer have so many of the brick-and-mortar store that we grew up with. I too avoid Walmart and boycott Amazon.
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Wow, that’s an interesting piece of history! I know the US was plentiful with fur trade too. I really miss having a decent mall. When I looked online at the closest big city to me, half the mall stores there are vacant too and I just hate ordering online – it’s okay if you are familiar with how the store’s sizes fit but otherwise a waste of time (if you have to sent it back) and money (if you decide to keep it even if it isn’t quite right, to avoid the hassle of sending it back). If there’s one part of tech progress I would like to reverse it’s that one!
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Very interesting!
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