Woodward's Stores Ltd. was a
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
chain that operated in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
and
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada, for 101 years, before its sale to the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
.
History
Charles Woodward established the first Woodward store at the corner of
Main and
Georgia Streets in
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 cit ...
in 1892. On September 12, 1902, Woodward Department Stores Ltd. was incorporated, and a new store was built on the corner of
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
and Abbott Streets. In 1926 a store was opened in
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
and by the late 1940s the company operated numerous stores in British Columbia and Alberta. Stores opened included
Victoria in 1945,
Port Alberni in 1948,
Park Royal Shopping Centre
Park Royal Shopping Centre, also known as simply Park Royal, opened in 1950, is a shopping mall located in West Vancouver and X̱wemelch'stn, British Columbia, Canada. Park Royal was Canada's first covered shopping mall. Park Royal has seen multipl ...
in
West Vancouver
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...
in 1950,
New Westminster
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...
in 1954,
Westmount Shopper's Park in Edmonton in 1955,
Oakridge Centre (where Woodward's was the owner and anchor tenant) in 1959,
Chinook Centre in
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
in 1960, Victoria in 1963,
Northgate Centre in Edmonton in 1963, and
Prince George and
Guildford Town Centre in
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
in 1966,
Southgate Centre in Edmonton in 1970,
Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria in 1974,
Cherry Lane in
Penticton
Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley of the British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan Lake, Okanagan and Skaha Lake, Skaha lakes. In the 2021 Canadian Census, its population was 36,885, while its Census geographic un ...
in 1975,
Sevenoaks Shopping Centre in
Abbotsford in 1975,
Lansdowne Park in
Richmond in 1977, and
Coquitlam Centre
Coquitlam Centre is a shopping mall in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, built in 1979 and expanded in 2001. It is located at the southern edge of the Coquitlam Town Centre area, near Coquitlam Central station and several other smaller shopp ...
in 1979.
Woodward's was a central feature of the retail scene in southwestern British Columbia for much of the twentieth century. The chain was distinctive in that stores included a large
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
known as the "Food Floor". At Oakridge Centre and Chinook Centre (Calgary), the Woodward's Food Floor had a conveyor system from the cash registers out to a structure in the parking lot. Upon request, the bag boys would pack customers' groceries into numbered bins and send the bins through the conveyor system. Then customers would take tags with matching numbers out to the structure, and more bag boys would load the groceries from the matching bins into the customers' cars. This service was called the Grocery Parcel Depot in Oakridge and Parcel Pickup in Chinook. When Woodward's sold the Food Floor chain - long known for its quality and its line of unusual specialities - to
Safeway, the flagship store's food floor became a reduced-size
IGA supermarket, as Safeway showed no interest in that location. Many western Canadians fondly remember Woodward's famous "$1.49 Day" sales (said aloud as "dollar forty-nine day"), held on the first Tuesday of every month. These sales were advertised widely on radio and in newspapers, including a distinctive jingle used for years after it was introduced in April 1958, and offered everything from canvas-top running shoes to bath oil for the one price.
Woodward's filed for bankruptcy protection on December 11, 1992, after a decade of failing to keep up with the changing retail landscape. In June 1993,
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
acquired 21 of the total 25 Woodward's locations in a $235 millions takeover.
On August 12, 1993, 13 former Woodward's locations instantly opened as
The Bay stores while 10 would start renovating in order to be taken over later in the year by
Zellers.
These 23 conversions include two locations that were split among The Bay and Zellers, at
Oakridge Centre and
Chinook Centre.
The four Woodward's locations that closed for good were at
Southgate Centre,
Mill Woods Town Centre,
Northgate Centre and
Coquitlam Centre
Coquitlam Centre is a shopping mall in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, built in 1979 and expanded in 2001. It is located at the southern edge of the Coquitlam Town Centre area, near Coquitlam Central station and several other smaller shopp ...
.
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
was by far the place the most impacted by the merger, with all but one of the Woodwards closures happening within its city limits.
In reality, a few of the locations that Hudson's Bay Company did acquired, such as in
Park Royal,
Bower Place and
Sunridge Mall, were used to move existing The Bay or Zellers stores in the Woodward's spaces, resulting in layoffs in those places as well. The Woodward's at
West Edmonton Mall
West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a large shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Met ...
was initially among the stores that were to permanently close, but it was decided afterwards that it would reopen as The Bay.
Woodward's also operated two standalone Furniture Fair stores in
Burnaby
Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...
(which became
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
's first location in Canada in 1985) and Edmonton in the 1970s. There were also discount type stores called Woodwynn (similar to
Winners) in BC and Alberta (some within Woodward's Stores), which were originally known as Woodward's Bargain Stores. Several malls also had separate Woodward's Book Stores. The closure of Woodward's locations in many malls sparked redevelopment and expansion of a number of the centres, such as Chinook Centre in Calgary. In a number of malls, the presence of separate operations such as the bookstore and Woodwynn required these stores to also be replaced. When the
West Edmonton Mall
West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a large shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Met ...
location closed, The Bay - which already had a full store at the opposite end of the mall - simply converted the former Woodward's into a second Bay (one of the few cases where a single mall has had two duplicate anchor tenants); after a few years of this, however, the Woodward's-Bay was closed and converted into a multi-screen movie theatre, an
HMV
HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson.
The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...
(now
Sunrise Records
2428391 Ontario Inc. (trading as Sunrise Records) is a Canadian record store chain based in Hamilton, Ontario. Currently owned by Doug Putman (whose family also runs Everest Toys), it currently operates in nine Canadian provinces. Originally op ...
) location, and additional retail space.
On December 8, 2009, the Woodward's Food Floor reopened for the first time since the chain's sale to Safeway. The new Woodward's Food Floor, which is located in Vancouver at the former Woodward's complex (along with a new location of
London Drugs), is now a division of Nester's Market.
Woodward's comes back to life
at the Vancouver Sun
See also
* Woodward's Building
* List of Canadian department stores
* Spencer's (department store)
References
External links
Hudson's Bay Company website
Woodward's Food Floor website
Footage of survey of Woodward's building in Vancouver and demolition of the tower, 2006, City of Vancouver Archives
{{Hudson's_Bay_Trading_Company,_L.P.
Department stores of Canada
Defunct retail companies of Canada
Hudson's Bay Company
Retail companies established in 1892
1892 establishments in British Columbia
Canadian companies established in 1892