Radishes and Gooseberries. That was how my classmates and I referred to the great explorers and traders Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers when we studied their adventures in high school. I have thought little of them since passing my history exam but was reminded of them recently by an event that ended an era. I refer to the filing for creditor protection last month by the Hudson’s Bay Company.
The Bay is important to me for a number of reasons. One is my interest in history and no institution has been more a part of our history than The Bay. Founded in 1670, it is the oldest continually operating company in the world. Radisson and Groseilliers were instrumental in its creation, convincing the English of the wealth of furs awaiting them in North America. As an outcome of their efforts, King Charles II granted a royal charter to the “Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay.”
The company changed with the times and became one of our country’s major retailers with today’s 80 stores and over 9,000 employees. In 2006 it was bought by American businessman Jerry Zucker who sold it on to its current owner, real-estate mogul Richard Baker. Unfortunately the real-estate man is no retailer and has run a number of retail businesses into the ground. This time his victim was a major piece of Canadian history.
I have a long personal experience with The Bay and its business. The downtown Calgary store was long a sort of home away from home for me. As a downtown denizen, I did most of my shopping there—clothes, household items, Christmas presents, etc.(Until the pandemic changed my habits.) I always felt comfortable in the Bay, never hurried, taking time to check out the various departments.
The Bay’s monumental building on Stephen Avenue is a landmark, a Western Canadian legacy. At one time it had 40 departments, including a large grocery division, a regional shipping department, public telephones, a telegraph and cable office, a men’s smoking lounge, a beauty salon and one of the city’s most desirable restaurants. The store was long a social hub as well as a commercial centre.
The Chicago Commercial-style architecture features an exterior entirely faced with cream-glazed terracotta and an iconic colonnade made of granite columns, terracotta archways and a mosaic terrazzo floor. The sandstone building was a model for the stores in Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg. According to Josh Traptow, CEO of Heritage Calgary, “There’s nothing else like it in Calgary—really, in Western Canada.”
My connection with The Bay is also more than commercial. For my history fix, I have long subscribed to Canada’s History, our country’s foremost history magazine. Founded in 1920 as The Beaver by The Hudson’s Bay Company as part of its 250th anniversary celebrations, the magazine has featured such writers as Pierre Berton, Michael Bliss, Donald Creighton, Desmond Morton and Peter C. Newman. In 1994, it was acquired by Canada’s National History Society and renamed.
So I am not quite leaving The Bay behind even if it goes bankrupt (nor Radishes and Gooseberries). I will continue to read with pleasure what for so long I called The Beaver , and I will pay close attention to the future of that magnificent building.