The storied Hudson’s Bay Company will start liquidating on Monday. The company that started as a fur-trading outpost will begin getting rid of its inventory in all but six of its 96 stand-alone stores, plus three Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 13 Saks Off 5th shops.
Hudson’s Bay Co. has a history that spans as far back as 1670. The company was active in Alaska during the western expansion of the fur trade. While is very much part of Canada’s European heritage, the company touched Alaska, which was still owned by Russia in 1847, by establishing the trading post of Fort Yukon, as well as fur trading posts as far west as Atlin, British Columbia.
While HBC had trading posts along the Yukon River, it has not had any operating stores in the Yukon since the Whitehorse store closed in 1987.
Earlier this month, the company received creditor protection from the court, a process similar to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States. The bankruptcy judge said he saw no other way forward but liquidation.
The six stores being spared, for now at least, include the company’s flagship store in Toronto, two others in Ontario and three in Quebec. All of the other stores will be vacated by June 30 after liquidation sales end June 15.
The nearest remaining HBC location to Alaska, besides Vancouver, is in Kamloops, British Columbia. Those are both on the closure list.
Throughout its history the company was often referred to as a company that grew into a nation. Indeed, HBC is older than Canada itself and survived the ups and downs of retail, World War II, the Great Depression, until the Covid pandemic changed buying habits in Canada and elsewhere. The company never quite recovered from the pandemic policies, and it didn’t take proactive measures to keep up with the online buying habits that developed during the pandemic.
Northern Commercial Company in Anchorage and Fairbanks (and maybe other Alaska locations) was similar to Hudson Bay Company. They carried high-quality goods mostly made in the Americas. 90+% of what is available today is crap by comparison. Some of the brand names may still exist (Filson, Pendleton) but their quality is very low by comparison.
Another sad victim of the Covidian mass psychosis.
RIP, Hudson’s Bay Company.