If you live along the northern tier of North Dakota, there’s a pretty good chance you have visited Winnipeg sometime in your life. If you live in northeastern North Dakota, there’s a pretty good chance you have shopped at The Bay.
Called “The Bay” for a number of years to be more modern, it’s actually the Hudson’s Bay Company, which has been in business in North America for 355 years.
It was recently announced that The Bay, for many years the most prominent department store in Canada, is liquidating its merchandise and is closing.
In a written statement from The Bay leadership, it states, “After 355 years, it’s time to say goodbye. To our valued customers – thank you. As we prepare to close our doors and shut down (thebay.com), we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your support and loyalty over the years. It has been our pleasure to serve you, and we are truly thankful for the trust placed in us. Select stores remain open as we continue running the closing sale. Visit your nearest location to shop while supplies last.”
The nearest locations to North Dakota are at 1225 St. Mary’s Road in Winnipeg and 201 1st Ave. S in Saskatoon.
Numerous department stores like Sears, Herbergers, Montgomery Ward and Daytons have all closed citing e-commerce as the greatest factor. But why is The Bay different?
It is the oldest corporation in North America, founded on May 2, 1670 in London. The company was granted a right of sole trade and commerce over an expansive area of land known as Rupert’s Land, which comprised much of the Hudson Bay drainage basin.
The company had a commercial monopoly and functioned as a de facto government in Rupert’s Land until it relinquished control to Canada in 1869, just two years after Canada was formerly organized.
Two-thirds of what would become North Dakota was also part of Rupert’s Land. The rest was part of the Louisiana Purchase. So, for 148 years until the 49th Parallel was established in 1818, much of North Dakota was in Rupert’s Land and had the Hudson’s Bay Company as a major retail business.
But things began to shift in the late 1700s. After Pembina was established in 1797, a fur trading operation called the Northwest Company established a fort at the confluence of the Pembina and Red rivers. The Hudson’s Bay Company then set up trading posts at Pembina and at present-day Grand Forks, since the entirety of the Red River Valley was good for fur trading.
That territory extended west to include the Souris and Des Lacs River basins. And although no trading posts were established west of Pembina, numerous fur trappers from the Hudson’s Bay Company were located throughout the area of Rupert’s Land that would become northwestern North Dakota.
Rupert’s Land also extended from Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods to the west and into northeastern Montana.
So The Bay has been more than a department store for a very long time. The liquidation started in April and will continue until all of the stores are sold off.
After the fur trade turned to a department store focus, the first Hudson’s Bay Company department store opened in 1926 in the same building that many of us have shopped in Winnipeg. That seven-story store is now closed and is now an historic site and two remaining stores in the Polo Park Shopping Center and the St. Vital Centre are closing at the end of June.
Thus, the longest-running business in North America, that is intertwined with the history of North Dakota in more ways than one, was thought to be ending its reign. But Canadian Tire recently purchased the intellectual property rights of HBC for $30 million, meaning many products will continue to be available long after The Bay closes all its stores.
