Canadian Retail Thread

[urbandreamer]

I don't understand why HBC can't become another outdoorsy lifestyle brand selling in posh boutiques globally. Blankets, housewares, winter accessories, handbags etc. Designed and manufactured in Canada.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by esquire

Soon, once Hudson's Bay bites the dust (or becomes a Toronto-Montreal-Vancouver only downtown boutique)

And even the possibility of that seems to be fast-closing window. Toronto's Bay at Yonge & Queen was actually still a really good & popular department store even just 5 years ago, but the last few times I've been it's become a bit of a ghost town (even back in pre-pandemic it seemed to be struggling too). Meanwhile the other downtown Bay location closed this past year. I'd hate to see the same fate befall their flagship.

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I don't understand why HBC can't become another outdoorsy lifestyle brand selling in posh boutiques globally. Blankets, housewares, winter accessories, handbags etc. Designed and manufactured in Canada.

Heck, even if it were just a domestic thing I think Canadians would love to buy HBC stuff and shop in their department stores. They just need to not suck.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I don't understand why HBC can't become another outdoorsy lifestyle brand selling in posh boutiques globally. Blankets, housewares, winter accessories, handbags etc. Designed and manufactured in Canada.

The blankets have always been made in England.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The blankets have always been made in England.

The smallpox cost extra but was Canadian made

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I don't understand why HBC can't become another outdoorsy lifestyle brand selling in posh boutiques globally. Blankets, housewares, winter accessories, handbags etc. Designed and manufactured in Canada.

HBC today is mainly owned and controlled by Americans. When the company is trying to revive the failed chain of Zellers you know that they can't be very good at retailing.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Wigs

The smallpox cost extra but was Canadian made

I don't think General Amherst used HBC blankets to spread the contagion. They were a different brand.

[harls]

Last time I was at Hudson's Bay was in 2006, to buy those overpriced olympic mitts.

If they are going for nostalgia, Zellers should bring back the glass coffin smoking sections of their restaurants. Seniors hocking up phlegm, cafeteria trays and napkins left on floors and tables. Overflowing garbage bins. Rolls of toilet paper purposely attempted to flush in the bathroom.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by harls

Last time I was at Hudson's Bay was in 2006, to buy those overpriced olympic mitts.

If they are going for nostalgia, Zellers should bring back the glass coffin smoking sections of their restaurants. Seniors hocking up phlegm, cafeteria trays and napkins left on floors and tables. Overflowing garbage bins. Rolls of toilet paper purposely attempted to flush in the bathroom.

That would count as a good day at the old St Laurent location.

[casper]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I don't think General Amherst used HBC blankets to spread the contagion. They were a different brand.

He was British, I would have though he would go with the HBC brand. The French would have been using the NorthWest Company brand.

As a side note the North West Company is still around. They are global player in selling stuff in some of the most remote places of the world. They purchased the Russia-American Company (who ran trading posts in Alaska when it was still part of Russia) a number of years ago. North West Company has stors in the Caribbean, Hawaii and many remote south pacific islands as well as Northern Canada and the US. All run from a global head office in Winnipeg.

I think the NWC has a better chance of serving than HBC at this stage.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by harls

Last time I was at Hudson's Bay was in 2006, to buy those overpriced olympic mitts.

If they are going for nostalgia, Zellers should bring back the glass coffin smoking sections of their restaurants. Seniors hocking up phlegm, cafeteria trays and napkins left on floors and tables. Overflowing garbage bins. Rolls of toilet paper purposely attempted to flush in the bathroom.

Oh the memories! And what you wrote is quite accurate of how it was whether it was Zellers, Woolco, K-Mart or The Met in Timmins or where you were.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by harls

Last time I was at Hudson's Bay was in 2006, to buy those overpriced olympic mitts.

If they are going for nostalgia, Zellers should bring back the glass coffin smoking sections of their restaurants. Seniors hocking up phlegm, cafeteria trays and napkins left on floors and tables. Overflowing garbage bins. Rolls of toilet paper purposely attempted to flush in the bathroom.

I remember the Westmount Mall store in London was like that too. The Zellers restaurant there looked disgusting, with dirty dishes everywhere. All the customers were easily age 80+.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by harls

Last time I was at Hudson's Bay was in 2006, to buy those overpriced olympic mitts.

If they are going for nostalgia, Zellers should bring back the glass coffin smoking sections of their restaurants. Seniors hocking up phlegm, cafeteria trays and napkins left on floors and tables. Overflowing garbage bins. Rolls of toilet paper purposely attempted to flush in the bathroom.

I don’t think I’ve been to a Zellers restaurant, but I do remember walking by them. Based on your description they were pretty awful. But then, since the Zellers so-called revival was announced, I keep hearing how people miss those restaurants. HBC is even bringing them back albeit in a food truck format. Crazy what nostalgia does to people. You start venerating stuff that was legit mediocre. Same could be said for Zellers as a whole, those stores were the perfect definition of mediocrity.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

According to Retail Insider, they are also closing the Hudson Bay standalone location in Banff as well.

It certainly looks like all this fiddling around with a half assed relaunch of Zellers constitutes nothing more than a good case of deck chair rearranging on the Titanic.

That's too bad. It actually looks like it was a small, touristy location that could have done well.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...sing-1.6739017

Originally Posted by esquire

It is amazing to see HBC starting to teeter on the brink.

When I was a kid, department stores were the main event when it came to retail. Eaton's, The Bay, Sears, Simpsons... then you had junior department stores like Woolco, Zellers, K-Mart. Those were the mainstream places to go, it's where seemingly everyone did their shopping save for a small percentage at the very top and bottom of the socioeconomic food chain.

Soon, once Hudson's Bay bites the dust (or becomes a Toronto-Montreal-Vancouver only downtown boutique), the only retailer left in that space will be Walmart. It's an incredible change over the course of 30 years.

We still have Simons.

Originally Posted by casper

When I was a first year university student, I had a part-time (weekend job) stocking shelves in the Bay in downtown Vancouver toyland. Great experience learning about the dynamics of kids and parents especially around Christmas. Every Saturday morning for the 30 minutes before the store opened there was a staff meeting on each floor. The floor manager had his 15 minute training session on customer service or whatever it was that week.

If we were out of stock on something we were trained to offer to call around for the custom and have it held at one of the other bay stores or even to call over the Eaton's across the street. Not offering to help a customer would have been a major issue. Tossing them out 30 minutes before closing as well.

Today. I don't know what training they do but I find the same indifference when I go into their store.

I feel like there's probably no training beyond "stock the shelves, work the cash". What the employees don't understand is that they are contributing to the demise of HBC, and by extension, being one step closer to losing their jobs.

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I don't understand why HBC can't become another outdoorsy lifestyle brand selling in posh boutiques globally. Blankets, housewares, winter accessories, handbags etc. Designed and manufactured in Canada.

Because most of their overpriced crap is Made in China.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I don’t think I’ve been to a Zellers restaurant, but I do remember walking by them.

I remember eating at a Zeller's in-store diner, an HB in-store diner (Highfield Square) and a K-Mart in-store diner (Mapleton Road, Moncton). All were kinda cafeteria style.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

It is amazing to see HBC starting to teeter on the brink.

When I was a kid, department stores were the main event when it came to retail. Eaton's, The Bay, Sears, Simpsons... then you had junior department stores like Woolco, Zellers, K-Mart. Those were the mainstream places to go, it's where seemingly everyone did their shopping save for a small percentage at the very top and bottom of the socioeconomic food chain.
.

When I was a kid my parents seemingly bought most everything except food at department stores. Not just clothes and shoes but toys for us, pots and pans, appliances, my dad's snowblower, tires for the car, TVs, etc.

My house isn't that old but right now both my central vac and my central air conditioner are from Sears.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Acajack

When I was a kid my parents seemingly bought most everything except food at department stores. Not just clothes and shoes but toys for us, pots and pans, appliances, my dad's snowblower, tires for the car, TVs, etc.

My house isn't that old but right now both my central vac and my central air conditioner are from Sears.

For me growing up it was the same thing. The one exception was shoes, Kinney Shoes in the mall. However that was a store banner that was also owned by Woolworth. Back then the sales people knew they staff and were trusted. Yes, there home was made up of Kenmore (Sears) appliances with the Beaucrest (the Bay) microwave oven.

The cheap stuff (dishes towels etc.) were Woodwards and usually from $1.49 day.

[SteelTown]

As an only child, my mom would always drop me off at Zellers restaurant while she was shopping. So I have many memories of the Zellers restaurant. I used to get a cheeseburger with fries and gravy; the gravy was always lumpy.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Nashe

I remember eating at a Zeller's in-store diner, an HB in-store diner (Highfield Square) and a K-Mart in-store diner (Mapleton Road, Moncton). All were kinda cafeteria style.

The best was the restaurant in the Eatons store in Highfield Square (before it was converted to HBC). The restaurant was on the second floor and had large windows looking out over the railway tracks with the Moncton city skyline in the background. When out two oldest kids were preschool, we would take them there for outings, and we would try to get a table by the windows so we could observe activity in the railyard while we ate. The boys loved trains. It's actually a fond memory.

[Acajack]

Seems like as good a time as any to bring up the lavish 9th floor restaurant of the Eaton's store on Ste-Catherine in Montreal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaton%...oor_Restaurant

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The best was the restaurant in the Eatons store in Highfield Square (before it was converted to HBC). The restaurant was on the second floor and had large windows looking out over the railway tracks with the Moncton city skyline in the background.

Yup, that was the one. Had a very "50's diner" vibe, even in the 80's.