THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – While the Hudsons Bay Company did not had a retail location in Thunder Bay, the company’s decision to shutter all its remaining department stores across Western Canada marks a significant turning point in Canadian retail history—one that’s sending economic and cultural ripples across the country, including here in Northwestern Ontario.
Going downtown to shop or headed to the mall was a fixture of life for many Canadians over the past 50 years.
Growing up in Winnipeg, as a child, many Saturdays were spent at the Hudsons Bay downtown store, along with the downtown Eaton’s store. These retail giants offered almost everything you could imagine.
They also offered next day delivery for most purchases. Following World War 2, those deliveries were by horse drawn wagons. Children in Winnipeg relayed how the horse droppings were often used as goal posts or even as a hockey puck for road hockey games during the cold winter days.
Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), was once synonymous with Canada’s downtown cores and suburban malls, and now having announced the closures of its stores in cities including Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon are marking the end of another Canadian era.
The move leaves many large urban centres with massive, now-vacant, heritage buildings—once the bustling heart of retail—and raises questions about the future of mall-based department stores in the digital age.
Here in Thunder Bay, we have seen major shifts as retail business changes. Downtown Port Arthur and Fort William were once bustling retail hubs for the community. So too was County Fair Plaza where back in the day it was open until 10:00 with lots of stores to choose from.
Downtown Port Arthur once home to Eatons, Keskus Mall, a Loblaws grocery store, and many national now long-gone retail giants like Kresge’s and Reitmans are no longer the shopping destinations.
In downtown Port Arthur the Good & Co has taken the main floor of much of the old Eatons Building. In downtown Fort William the Hub Bazaar serves now as the closest to a retail main attractor.
Thunder Bay’s Retail Landscape Also Evolving
Though Thunder Bay never had a Hudson’s Bay location, we do have some experience in retail change since the closure of Sears and Lowes in Intercity Shopping Centre, which remember followed the failure of Target in Canada, we have seen much of what other major centres are seeing as well.
With the HBC’s departure from Western Canada this is symbolic of larger trends that are relevant to local consumers and commercial landlords: the continued shift away from traditional department store models, the struggle to repurpose large anchor spaces in malls, and the growing impact of e-commerce on brick-and-mortar retail.
A Looming Challenge: Reimagining Downtowns
In major cities across Western Canada, the closures bring more immediate concerns. Many Hudson’s Bay buildings are architecturally significant and occupy prime downtown real estate—but are also decades, sometimes over a century, old. Cities will now need to decide how to repurpose these cavernous, sometimes heritage-protected structures.
Calgary’s Hudson’s Bay, a six-storey flagship built in 1913, will be vacated by this summer. Winnipeg’s historic downtown Bay building has sat mostly empty for years. In Edmonton and Regina, similar sites pose redevelopment challenges: large footprints, aging infrastructure, and the need for substantial investment to bring them up to modern standards.
National Retail Implications
Hudson’s Bay’s decision to retrench underscores a national trend: legacy department stores, once dominant, are struggling to stay relevant amid rising operating costs, online shopping, and changing consumer behaviour. According to a 2024 report by the Retail Council of Canada, foot traffic in malls dropped by 15% year-over-year in western urban centres, while e-commerce sales surged by 21%.
Even in Thunder Bay, national chain closures and retail turnover continue to impact mall vitality and downtown development plans.
For many the COVID-19 pandemic opened the floodgates to online shopping. With speedy delivery and often lower prices than some local retail stores, consumers once their shopping patterns changed, getting them back to shopping in stores became a real challenge.
With Hudson’s Bay’s bankruptcy, there is a renewed urgency for city planners, landlords, and communities to think creatively about the future of large-format retail spaces.
Cultural Shift and Consumer Sentiment
For many Canadians, the Hudson’s Bay store wasn’t just a place to shop—for better or worse it was a part of the country’s historical and cultural fabric. Generations grew up shopping for everything from winter coats to wedding registries under the Bay’s roof. Its retreat west of Ontario signals the fading of a once-dominant national symbol.
The iconic three stripes Hudsons Bay Blankets are as Canadian a symbol as anything.
Looking Ahead
With Hudson’s Bay now focusing operations in Central and Eastern Canada, and doubling down on e-commerce and luxury offshoots like Saks Fifth Avenue, the Canadian retail landscape is changing rapidly. Cities across Western Canada face a new challenge: how to reinvent their retail core without the giant that once anchored it.
For Thunder Bay, the lesson may be in preparation—ensuring that local retail continues to evolve with consumer habits and that any large-scale vacancies in malls or downtown are met with innovation and foresight.
