The Bay

Infobox_Company | company_name = The Bay | company_| company_type = Department store
foundation = 1670 - HBC incorporated by Royal Charter
1881 - HBC opens its first department store
1964 - Chain rebranded as "The Bay"
location = flagicon|Canada Toronto, Ontario, Canada | industry = Retail | products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares. | parent= Hudson's Bay Company ("HBC")
homepage = [http://www.hbc.com/bay/ www.thebay.com] | The Bay is a chain of 94 fashion department stores that operate across parts of Canada. It is the main brand of Hudson's Bay Company ("HBC"), North America's oldest company.

In French, the chain is known as La Baie, short for "Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson". The chain uses both the English and French versions of the name in some parts of the country.

The stores are full-line department stores, with a focus on apparel, accessories, and home goods. Most price points are mid- to upper-mid; however, there is an assortment of everyday low-price merchandise. The Bay can be compared to U.S. retailer Macy's, and is more up-market than Sears Canada department stores. The average store is 135,000 square feet (12,500 m²). Flagship downtown stores exist in Canada's largest cities, including Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. These stores are larger in size and carry a much broader range of goods than their mall counterparts.

History

The Bay's origins can be be traced in 1881, when the HBC opened its first department store, in Winnipeg, under its proper name Hudson Bay's Company. From 1881 up until 1960, all "Hudson Bay's Company" stores were located in the prairie provinces.

In 1960, the HBC acquired Morgan's, a Montreal department chain with stores in Ontario and the island of Montreal. That same year, all the Morgan's in Ontario were converted to "Hudson Bay's Company" stores, while the ones in Quebec kept the Morgan name.

In 1964, all "Hudson Bay's Company" stores were changed to the new name The Bay. The Quebec stores continued under the Morgan name until 1972, when the HBC converted them to La Baie.

The Bay further expanded its presence in Eastern Canada from 1989 to 1991 by absorbing the Simpsons department store chain, and 1993 in Western Canada by taking over many former Woodward's outlets.

In 1991, after 320 years, Hudson's Bay Company stopped selling fur. The decision was regarded as a response to widespread public sentiment opposing the perceived inhumane killing of animals for clothing; [ [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-545-2740-20/that_was_then/politics_economy/hudsons_bay_fur_trade Hudson's Bay Company end its fur trade] ] however, in 1997 the company reopened their fur salons in Bay stores. Animal rights groups, such as Freedom for Animals, have been campaigning to get the Bay to once again stop selling fur.

Recent additions to larger (namely flagship) stores of the Bay include the Style Outlet and Pharmamart sections. Style Outlets, off-price departments located in 14 stores, offer designer labels at discounted prices, much like the Winners chain.

Pharmamart is a centre that includes basic grocery and household items and, among other amenities, a pharmacy. This can be interpreted as an attempt to compete directly with Shoppers Drug Mart, Wal-Mart or others, and also as a response to the success of the basic grocery addition in the modern Zellers prototype.

In Downtown Toronto, the Queen Street Bay store, formerly Simpsons, includes the Department 'St. Regis Room' on the third floor. It is an upscale women's clothing department carrying some of the most prestigious and expensive women's designer labels in Canada. Designers include Givenchy, Christian Lacroix, Emmanuel Ungaro, Balmain, Valentino Roma, Armani Collezioni, Louis Feraud, Karl Lagerfeld, Lida Baday, Andrew Gn, Bellville Sassoon, David Hayes, and others.

In 2008, the company confirmed that it will be moving their downtown Toronto head office and most headquarters functions to the Zellers head office in Brampton.

On 16 July 2008, it was announced that Hudson's Bay Company (the parent company of The Bay) had been purchased by the US firm, NRDC Equity Partners, which already owns Lord and Taylor, Fortunoff, and Creative Design Studios. The new combined multinational corporation will be called Hudson's Bay Trading Company.

Locations

Alberta

*Banff: Banff
*Calgary: Market Mall
*Calgary: Southcentre Mall
*Calgary: Downtown Calgary
*Calgary: Chinook Centre
*Calgary: Sunridge Mall
*Edmonton: Kingsway Garden Mall
*Edmonton: Londonderry Mall
*Edmonton: Southgate Centre
*Edmonton: The Bay Edmonton City Centre
*Edmonton: West Edmonton Mall
*Lethbridge: Lethbridge Centre Mall
*Medicine Hat: Medicine Hat Mall
*Red Deer: Bower Place
*St. Albert: St. Albert Centre

British Columbia

*Abbotsford: Sevenoaks Shopping Centre
*Burnaby: Lougheed Town Centre
*Burnaby: Metropolis at Metrotown
*Coquitlam: Coquitlam Centre
*Kamloops: Aberdeen Mall
*Kelowna: Orchard Park Shopping Centre
*Langley: Willowbrook Shopping Centre
*Nanaimo: Woodgrove Centre
*Penticton: Cherry Lane Shopping Centre
*Prince George: Parkwood Shopping Centre
*Richmond: Richmond Centre
*Surrey: Guildford Town Centre
*Vancouver: Oakridge Centre
*Vancouver: Downtown Vancouver
*Vernon: Village Green Mall
*Victoria: Mayfair Shopping Centre
*Victoria: The Bay Centre. "Opened as Eaton's in 1989. Became the Bay in 2003."
*West Vancouver: Park Royal Shopping Centre

Manitoba

*Winnipeg: Downtown Winnipeg, Portage Place
*Winnipeg: Polo Park Shopping Centre. "Opened as Eaton's. Became the Bay in 2003."
*Winnipeg: St. Vital Centre

New Brunswick

*Moncton: Highfield Square Shopping Centre

Nova Scotia

*Dartmouth: Mic Mac Mall
*Halifax: Halifax Shopping Centre Annex
*Sydney: Mayflower Mall

Ontario

*Barrie: Georgian Mall, formerly a K-Mart
*Brampton: Bramalea City Centre
*Burlington: Burlington Mall. "Opened as Simpsons-Sears. Became the Bay in 1991."
*Burlington: Mapleview Shopping Centre
*Cambridge: Cambridge Centre
*Etobicoke: Sherway Gardens
*Hamilton: Lime Ridge Mall. "Opened as Eaton's in 1983. Became the Bay in 1992."
*Kingston: Cataraqui Town Centre "Opened as Simpsons. Became the Bay in 1986."
*Kitchener: Fairview Park. "Originally Simpsons"
*London: Masonville Place
*London: White Oaks Mall. "Originally Simpsons"
*Markham: Markville Shopping Centre
*Mississauga: Erin Mills Town Centre
*Mississauga: Square One Shopping Centre
*Newmarket: Upper Canada Mall
*North York: Yorkdale Shopping Centre. "Originally Simpsons"
*Oakville: Oakville Place
*Oshawa: Oshawa Centre
*Ottawa: Freiman Mall, across from Rideau Centre. "Opened in 1918 as Freiman's. Became the Bay in 1972."
*Ottawa: St. Laurent Shopping Centre
*Ottawa (Orléans): Place d'Orleans
*Ottawa (Nepean): Bayshore Shopping Centre
*Pickering: Pickering Town Centre
*Rexdale: Woodbine Centre
*Richmond Hill: Hillcrest Mall
*Scarborough: Eglinton Square
*Scarborough: Scarborough Town Centre
*St. Catharines: The Pen Centre "Opened as Robinson's, 1975. Became The Bay in 1992."
*Toronto: Bloor Street
*Toronto: Queen Street:The Bay Queen Street, located at the southwest corner of Queen Street West and Yonge Street in Downtown Toronto, the de facto flagship store, is Canada's largest department store with 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²) of retail space. The store occupies a full city block and is connected by a skyway over Queen Street to the Toronto Eaton Centre. [ [http://www.torontotourism.com/DynamicContent/Members/12173-The+Bay+Queen+Street.htm Toronto Tourism: The Bay Queen Street] ] Fifty-two of this location's Simpsons employees fought in World War II, and are commemorated in a plaque at the south-east entrance. The location offers three restaurants, the Arcadian Court Restaurant, Great Cooks on Eight, and City View Café. It served as the setting for the children's TV series "Today's Special," when the store was still Simpsons.
*Waterloo: Conestoga Mall. "Opened as Robinson's in 1978. The store has been compeltely rebuilt in 2008 into a larger and new prototype store. The new store is the first "green" Bay store in Canada, complete with solar panels and wind turbines."cite web
url = http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2008/17/c5115.html
title = Waterloo Becomes Home to Canada's First Green Bay Store
publisher = CNW
accessdate = 2008-09-19]
*Willowdale: Centrepoint Mall
*Willowdale: Fairview Mall
*Windsor: Devonshire Mall. "Originally Simpsons"

Quebec

*Anjou: Les Galeries d'Anjou
*Brossard: Mail Champlain
*Dorval: Les Jardins Dorval
*Gatineau: Les Promenades de l'Outaouais
*Laval: Centre Laval
*Laval: Carrefour Laval
*Mount Royal: Centre Rockland
*Montreal: Le Boulevard
*Montreal: Saint Catherine Street West. "Opened As Morgan's in 1889. Became the Bay in 1972."
*Pointe-Claire: Fairview Pointe-Claire
*Quebec City: Galeries de la Capitale
*Quebec City: Place Fleur-de-Lys
*Sainte-Foy: Place Laurier
*Rosemère: Place Rosemère
*Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville: Les Promenades Saint-Bruno
*Sainte-Foy: Place Laurier
*Sherbrooke: Carrefour de L'Estrie

askatchewan

*Regina: Cornwall Centre
*Saskatoon: Midtown Plaza

ee also

*List of Canadian department stores
*List of Hudson's Bay Company brands
*HBC Rewards
*Simpson's

References

External links

* [http://www.hbc.com/bay/ The Bay]