Hudson's Bay (french: La Baie d'Hudson), known colloquially and operating online as The Bay (French: ), is a Canadian luxury goods

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain. It is the flagship brand of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

(HBC), the oldest and longest-surviving company in North America as well as one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the world. Founded on 2 May 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company opened its first department store in 1881 in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. The chain operated under the company name before being rebranded to The Bay in 1965. It operated exclusively in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

until the acquisitions and conversions of department stores

Morgan's Henry Morgan & Company ( colloquially Morgan's) was a Canadian department store chain founded by Henry Morgan in 1845. The first store was located in Montreal, and expanded to include 11 stores in Ontario and Quebec before being bought by Hudson's ...

Freimans A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans ( ), was a landmark department store at 73 Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman. Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, On ...

Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, a ...

Woodward's Woodward's Stores Ltd. was a department store chain that operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, for 101 years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company. History Charles Woodward established the first Woodward store at the corner o ...

, coupled with the opening of new locations, positioned its presence nationwide in the second half of the 20th century. After nearly 50 years with The Bay brand, the chain was rebranded in 2013 to Hudson's Bay with a modernized logo. In 2021, The Bay name (but not the logo) was revived exclusively for the online website while the physical stores continue with the Hudson's Bay brand. Hudson's Bay Chinook Centre

, Hudson's Bay operates 86 locations in seven Canadian provinces. From 2017–2019, it operated in the Netherlands, in partnership with Austrian real estate company

Signa Holding Signa Holding GmbH (stylized as SIGNA) is Austria’s largest privately owned real estate company. Signa was founded in 2000 by the Tyrolean entrepreneur René Benko. Over the years, it has become a pan-European real estate group with more than ...

. The full-line department stores focus on high-end

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

apparel, accessories, and home goods; flagship stores carry a bigger range and selection of goods than typical locations. The flagship stores are often multi-storey, historic buildings and are located in Canada's largest cities (

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Calgary and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

). The largest of the flagship stores is the Toronto store on Queen Street, at about .

History

Early history

The diversification of the

(HBC) became necessary with the decline of fur trade in the latter half of the 19th century, and the

Deed of Surrender The Deed of Surrender or Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory Order is an 1870 British order in council that transferred ownership of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) to the newly created Domi ...

in which ownership of the North-Western Territory and

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

was transferred from HBC to the newly established country of Canada in 1870. The first Hudson's Bay Company store opened in 1881 in

with an inventory consisting of dry goods, groceries, and hardware. HBC reorganized into fur trade, lands sales, and retail divisions in 1910; with the guidance of a director from the British department store Harrods, they began construction of full-line department stores in 1913. This "modernization program" resulted the "original six" department stores in Calgary and

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

;

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

; Winnipeg in Manitoba; and

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. Hudson's Bay Company entered the provinces of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

with its acquisition of the

-based

department store chain in 1960; that year, only the Morgan's stores in Ontario were converted to Hudson's Bay Company stores.

Following renaming to The Bay

Hudson's Bay Company stores were renamed The Bay (which was already a popular nickname) in 1965, while the Morgan's stores in Quebec were renamed La Baie in 1972. That same year, Hudson's Bay purchased Ottawa's

department store and moved from the former Morgan's building on

Sparks Street Sparks Street (''French:'' Rue Sparks) is a pedestrian mall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was a main street in Ottawa that was converted into an outdoor pedestrian street in 1967, making it the earliest such street or mall in Canada.

to the Freiman building on

Rideau Street Rideau Street (french: Rue Rideau) is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier ...

, closer to competing

Ogilvy's Charles Ogilvy Limited, or Ogilvy's, was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1887. For much of the 20th century, Ogilvy's was one of Ottawa's higher-end department stores. Charles Ogilvy (1861-1950) was born in Edinburg ...

and

Caplan's Caplan's (C. Caplan Limited) was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Caplan's began as a small dry goods shop in 1897, and operated over time at various locations throughout Ottawa. In 1916, the store moved to Rideau Street, where it g ...

. The Bay further expanded its presence in Eastern Canada by absorbing the

department store chain in 1978 and 1993 in Western Canada by taking over many former

outlets. The Toronto Queen Street flagship store was previously a Simpsons department store. In 1991, Hudson's Bay Company stopped selling

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

. In 1997 the company reopened its fur salons, including a wider assortment of high-end designer furs. Fur salons included many exclusive fur designers, including Louis Féraud,

Givenchy Givenchy (, ) is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de ...

, Black Diamond Mink, and Grosvenor. On 16 July 2008, it was announced that Hudson's Bay Company had been purchased by the US firm NRDC Equity Partners, which owned

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

. In August 2008,

Bonnie Brooks Bonnie Brooks (born 1953) is a Canadians, Canadian department store executive who is former vice-chairman of Hudson's Bay Company, having formerly served as president and CEO of its department store arm Hudson's Bay (retailer), Hudson's Bay. On J ...

was hired as president and chief executive officer of the Hudson's Bay Company. As the result of market research, Brooks began to focus on bolstering high-end fashion as a growth segment. These moves included a major revamp of the chain's selection of labels, and a renovation and relaunch of The Room—a luxury women's department at the Queen Street location. During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a heritage-oriented campaign was used to promote The Bay and an accompanying line of Olympic-themed apparel, which was considered to be a significant success. In 2010, the Queen Street location saw a 22% increase in year-over-year sales. In 2011, The Bay launched White Space—a new younger-skewing "contemporary" department—at selected locations.

Following renaming to Hudson's Bay

Hudson's Bay Company announced alongside its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

that The Bay stores would be renamed to Hudson's Bay beginning in October 2012; replacing the stylized yellow "B" used since 1965 with the Hudson's Bay wordmark and coat of arms. The new Hudson's Bay rebranding campaign was officially launched on 6 March 2013. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of its Dutch locations would be sold by year end, the final chapter of HBC's European venture. Hudson's Bay stores were temporarily closed beginning on 17 March 2020 in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. The stores began gradually reopening on 19 May. In August 2021, HBC split the online business of Hudson's Bay into its own separate division. The online portion is now officially called The Bay, while the physical stores retained the Hudson's Bay name.

Flagship stores

Hudson's Bay operates five flagship stores in four provinces. These flagship stores are in multi-storey historic buildings in the downtowns of Canada's largest cities. The largest, the Toronto store building on the southwest corner of

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...

and

Queen Street West Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east ...

, was converted from Simpsons in 1991. Considered the flagship of the chain, it currently occupies , while a fifth of previously-occupied space was converted to the Canadian

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...

flagship store in 2015. Hudson's Bay Company sold the building to

Cadillac Fairview The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited is a Canadian company that invests in, owns, and manages commercial real estate, mainly in Canada and the United States. As of March 2017, the company had 73 properties, encompassing 38 million square feet ...

, which owns the adjacent

Toronto Eaton Centre The Toronto Eaton Centre (corporately styled as the CF Toronto Eaton Centre since September 2015, and commonly referred to simply as the Eaton Centre) is a shopping mall and office complex in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is ...

, in 2014 and entered into a

leaseback Leaseback, short for "sale-and-leaseback", is a financial transaction in which one sells an asset and leases it back for the long term; therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it. The transaction is generally done ...

agreement through at least 2039. Conversely, the Ottawa store on

occupies and is the smallest flagship that remains in a landmark building; it was converted from Freimans in 1973. Hudson's Bay Queen Street Level 2 2021

Hudson's Bay formerly operated a store in the

Hudson's Bay Centre 2 Bloor East is an office and retail complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, formerly known as the Hudson's Bay Centre. It is located in Downtown Toronto at the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street at the east end of the Mink Mile. Brookfi ...

, at the intersection of

and

Bloor Street Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Park ...

at the east end of the

Mink Mile Mink Mile is an upscale shopping district in the neighbourhood of Yorkville in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, along Bloor Street between Yonge Street and Avenue Road. History In the 21st century, mid-market retailers have begun to locate along the M ...

in Toronto, opened in 1974 and succeeded the Winnipeg location to become the flagship store of the chain (despite being actually smaller in size than the former), and then was replaced as the chain's flagship by the

store in 1991. The Hudson's Bay Centre store shuttered on 13 May 2022, with the site expected to be redeveloped in conjunction with a major overhaul of the Bloor-Yonge TTC station. Hudson's Bay operated flagship stores in Victoria, Edmonton (see below), Regina and Saskatoon but vacated these locations in 1999, in favor of spaces in major downtown shopping centres that were left vacant by the bankruptcy of rival department store chain Eaton's that year. After the exit of Hudson's Bay, these former flagship locations have been repurposed for other tenants. Recently in October 2020, due to changing shopping habits towards online purchasing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the parent of Hudson's Bay has considered downsizing some stores and redeveloping the surplus space for mixed-use. Hudson's Bay Chinook Centre 2

Two flagship stores in the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

were announced to be phased out in the aftermath of the

. The 1926-built downtown Winnipeg store on

Portage Avenue Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

was the flagship of the chain between 1926 and 1974. The Winnipeg building was valued at $0 by

Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenues ...

in 2019, due to the expense of renovating the heritage-protected building for other uses, as well as the competition from newer commercial real estate properties in the suburbs like

Polo Park Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaba ...

. The

downtown Edmonton Downtown Edmonton is the central business district of Edmonton, Alberta. Located at the geographical centre of the city, the downtown area is bounded by 109 Street to the west, 105 Avenue to the north, 97 Street to the east, 97 Avenue and Rossdale ...

store on

Jasper Avenue Jasper Avenue is an arterial road in central Edmonton, Alberta, and is the city's main street. Jasper Avenue has no official street number but is aligned with 101 Avenue with the majority of its length. Jasper Avenue is a major public tran ...

was built in 1939 on land that had been occupied by Hudson's Bay Company since 1893. It closed in 1995, two years after another The Bay store opened as an

anchor tenant In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. W ...

of the

Edmonton City Centre Edmonton City Centre is a shopping mall in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, across the street (west) from Churchill Square. History In 1974, the City Centre Place office tower (Oxford Tower) was completed within the larger Edmon ...

. The latter eventually relocated to the former Eaton's store of the same shopping mall in 2002. Consequently, at , it was the smallest Hudson's Bay flagship. The Winnipeg store was phased out on 30 November 2020, and the Edmonton store was phased out on 3 June 2021. HBC stated that it was exploring the option of a leaseback agreement for the 1927-built Vancouver store in 2017, which has yet to materialize. File:The Bay flagship store Toronto 2009.jpg,

Hudson's Bay Queen Street Hudson's Bay Queen Street is a building complex on the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Queen Street West in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was originally named the Simpson's Department Store, and operated as the flagship store of the ...

, the largest of the six flagship stores in

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Str ...

(2009) File:Hudson's Bay Company store, Montréal, South view 20170410 1.jpg, Flagship store in the

Henry Morgan Building Hudson's Bay Montreal Downtown (french: La Baie D'Hudson Montréal Centre-Ville) is a building complex on the corner of Saint Catherine Street West and Union Avenue in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was originally named the Henry Morgan B ...

in Downtown Montreal (2017) File:Freimans.png, Flagship store in the

building on

Downtown Ottawa Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, ...

(2006) File:HBCWinnipeg.JPG, Flagship store in Winnipeg

Store format

The Room and West End Shop

The Room is a luxury boutique found in selected Hudson's Bay locations, which features a curated selection of women's apparel from upscale brands such as Balmain,

Emmanuel Ungaro Emanuel Ungaro (13 February 1933 – 21 December 2019) was a French fashion designer who founded the eponymous fashion house in 1965. Early life Ungaro's Italian father fled to France from Francavilla Fontana of Brindisi province because of the ...

Halston Roy Halston Frowick (April 23, 1932 – March 26, 1990), known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer who rose to international fame in the 1970s. His minimalist, clean designs, often made of cashmere or ultrasuede, were ...

, Gianfranco Ferre, Giorgio Armani, Moschino, and others. Nicholas Mellamphy is the vice-president and buying director of The Room. Its namesake at the Yonge & Queen location in Toronto was established in the 1930s as the St. Regis Room, dating back to its time as a Simpsons store. It underwent a major renovation in 2009 by the design firm

Yabu Pushelberg Yabu Pushelberg is an international design studio with offices in Toronto and New York City, New York. Founded in 1980 by Canadians, Canadian designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, the studio has evolved from a traditional Interior design, int ...

, with an increase to in floor space, and expanding its stock from around 12 brands to 70 (including more "moderately-priced" options). The $5.3 million renovation was positioned by Brooks as part of a plan to increase The Bay's focus on high-end fashion; there were also plans to expand The Room as a featured department at other flagship locations. The Room opened at the downtown Vancouver location in 2011, in the north-east section of the second floor. The department includes many of the designers available in the Toronto Queen Street flagship store, and some not available in the flagship store, including

DSquared² Dean and Dan Caten (né Catenacci; born December 19, 1964) are Canadian fashion designers, radio personalities, and businessmen. They are identical twin brothers and the founders and owners of Dsquared², an Italian luxury fashion house based in ...

, Jeremy Liang, and Sid Neigum. The Room opened in the downtown Montreal Hudson's Bay store in late 2013. The Toronto version of The Room was relocated to a different part of the store in 2015 to accommodate a new

location. The West End Shop is the men's version of The Room. The Toronto Queen Street and the Vancouver Granville West End Shops recently underwent an extensive renovation. The current collection contains labels such as

Hugo Boss Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, ...

Ermenegildo Zegna Ermenegildo Zegna (; born 30 September 1955), often simply known and referred to as Gildo Zegna, is an Italian entrepreneur and manager. He is Chairman and CEO of Ermenegildo Zegna Group. Early life and education Gildo is a grandson of Ermeneg ...

, Armani Collezioni,

Ben Sherman Ben Sherman is a British clothing brand selling shirts, sweaters, suits, outerwear, shoes and accessories predominantly for men. Ben Sherman designs sometimes feature the Royal Air Force roundel which is often called the mod target. In its beg ...

, and

Strellson Strellson AG, based in Kreuzlingen, is Switzerland's largest Fashion, menswear manufacturer. History Strellson was founded in 1984 by fashion entrepreneurs and former Hugo Boss owners Uwe Holy, Uwe and Jochen Holy. They rebranded the coat manufa ...

Hudson's Bay Company Signature Shop

The Bay offers products from the Hudson's Bay Company Collection in a dedicated store, including items such as the iconic

Point Blanket A Hudson's Bay point blanket is a type of wool blanket traded by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in British North America, now Canada and the United States from 1779 to present. The blankets were typically traded to First Nations in exchange for ...

s, coats, bed sheets, bags, T-shirts, lotions, scents, and candles. HBC has also partnered with Canadian companies like Virginia Johnson, Pink Tartan, and Klaxon Howl to create exclusive, limited edition merchandise. Customized canoes and oars are also available. HBC has also teamed up with international companies for limited edition products, such as Steiff (heritage teddy bear, limited run of 2 500), and Best Made Axe Co. While the Hudson's Bay Company shops appear mainly in flagship stores and its

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest ...

location, products from the Hudson's Bay Company Collection (not including limited edition items) are also available at other locations, most notably the Point Blanket. The four-point stripes have also been trademarked worldwide, and are planned to be sold through international retailers which including Lord & Taylor in the US, and Colette in France, in an attempt to market HBC as a brand.

Designer label boutiques

Boutiques for Ralph Lauren are in select locations, including Queen Street, Yorkdale, Bayshore Ottawa, Carrefour Laval, Galeries d'Anjou, Vancouver Downtown, Victoria Downtown, Laurier Québec, and Montreal Downtown. Each boutique contains customized decor, and dedicated company specialists. The Toronto Queen Street and Montreal Downtown store has opened ground floor boutiques for Burberry,

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Leathergoods, and See by Chloé. Vancouver and Montreal ground-floor designer boutiques will follow. Hudson's Bay has ended its partnership with Saint-Laurent-based

Browns Shoes Browns Shoes Inc. is a Canadian fashion footwear retailer that owns and operates 70 stores across Canada under a variety of footwear brands. The company's headquarters is based in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, Quebec. History Browns S ...

, and closed all Browns locations in its stores, to allow the department store to offer a larger selection of shoes, and to partner with the Montreal-based ALDO Group. Hudson's Bay is now also offering higher-end brands, keeping in line with offerings from The Room and the West End Shop. The partnership with the Aldo Group began in spring 2011 when the revived Pegabo brand of footwear is going to be carried in Hudson's Bay and in Aldo's own FeetFirst and Locale locations. The website includes online shopping for home fashions and beauty products, and a gift registry.

Brand identity

Logo

The Hudson's Bay Company wordmark was written in Blackletter script before 1965. Lippincott & Margulies designed the "folk-friendly" 1965 The Bay logo, which features a stylized yellow "B" that was previously seen on the header of Hudson Bay Company's

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

from 1670. Morgan's stores in Quebec featured a logo with an "M" stylized similarly to the "B" from 1969 until they were rebranded to La Baie in 1972. Lipman designed the 2013 Hudson's Bay rebranding campaign; it restores the Hudson's Bay Company

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

, redrawn by Mark Summers. The wordmark is used on all public-facing materials, and has been compared to the typeface used by British fashion house

Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessorie ...

. The coat of arms is reserved for limited occasions. Before the official rebranding launch, the logo appeared on the exterior of the Vancouver flagship store in December 2012. File:The Bay Logo 1965.png, The Bay logo, used from 1965–2013. File:Hudson's Bay Wordmark 2013.svg, Hudson's Bay wordmark, in use since 2013

References

External links

The Bay
Formerly the website of Hudson's Bay. Now a separate division of HBC. {{Hudson's_Bay_Trading_Company,_L.P. Companies based in Toronto Department stores of Canada Hudson's Bay Company Retail companies established in 1670