While unrelated, perhaps, to Ivanhoé Cambridge's aborted Future Growth Node plan, I wanted to weigh in on Mic Mac's ugly step child, the Hudson's Bay store. With the recent renovations to MMM complete, the HBC store, tucked at the west end of the mall, stands out, and not in a good way. The store's exterior is effectively unchanged since it opened as Simpsons' second metro location in 1973. While HBC swallowed Simpsons in 1978, and rebranded the remaining stores in 1991, it did nothing more than change the name. The brick, the marquees, even the exterior doors, are all 48 years old and in poor condition. It's been 10 years since HBC closed its Halifax Shopping Centre location, and eight years since it dropped "The Bay" branding, and it has not seen fit to even update the signage at the Dartmouth store.
While I'm sure Ivanhoé Cambridge is happy to have the tenant (although there have been stories of HBC in disputes with its landlords over the last year) surely they are acutely aware that the faded, grimy brickwork at the HBC end of the mall is in sorry contrast to the renovated parts of the mall. HBC this week reported another dismal quarter while launching a new online shopping portal. The Dartmouth and Sydney stores are the last remaining HBC properties east of Québec. It's hard to see much of a future for what must be the city's last upscale-ish department store.
The MicMac HBC south entrance. To the left of the door is the amputated trunk of one of the graceful pine trees that once bracketed the entrances. Source:
The Chronicle Herald
The west side of the HBC features painted plywood, covering the entryway and windows of the former store dining room, Eggcetera, closed (I believe) in the early to mid-90s. Source:
The Chronicle Herald.
The sign marquee over the north entrance shows the brackets still in place from the former Simpsons signage, removed 30 years ago. Source:
Google