Canada's oldest company, put into liquidation by American hedge fund
In a late Friday announcement, Canada's oldest company said it couldn't secure the necessary financing to keep at least some of its empire alive.
As an Indigenous person from northern Ontario ..... GOOD!
My family traded with the Hudson Bay Company for generations in furs from the north. I remember my dad trading furs just before the whole industry collapsed in the 70s. My parents barely made a living from the furs yet they had to negotiate and fight and argue with every shipment they gave. Those store managers were just as terrible as the ones you read in history books.
Not to mention they were the only store operating in many native communities in the north .... so with the monopoly in a community, they had the freedom to set the price for anything and everything and make way more profit than they should have.
I celebrate the demise of the HBC ... it's historically a terrible company for native people.
That's fair. It's pretty ironic that HBC initially sucked all the value from native communities, then after it was sold to American shareholders they used it to suck any remaining value from Canadian consumers and now it's completely worthless.
Those gift card purchases are going to be a real death knell.
So, when do we rename Hudson Bay? Inuktut names is either Kangiqsualuk ilua or Tasiujarjuaq, but good luck getting that to catch on. Cree name is either Wînipekw or Wînipâkw... Gulf of Winnipeg has a certain ring to it.
Does it matter after its liquidated? Honestly, it seems more gebuous to dissolve the original conquerors of Canada than anything.
I do agree it's a sad ending, though.
Worth noting that the hedge fund is a property investment company, not a business investment company. They’re in it for the real estate and don’t care at all about the business.
And since the HBC divided up BNA with Canada at confederation, they do still have a LOT of property.
Very much this. At the same time, it's clear from the article they wouldn't let management manage issues so the Bay was cooked from the onset
The Bay is going out of business because of their insistence on remaining a "department store", high prices, and lack of adoption for any new technology.
Their point of sale was still running on DOS last I checked, and the shopping experience felt like it was straight out of the 90s.
Start a new company, maybe a coop, that sells canadian made goods
I would LOVE to see HBC reborn as a costco style membership club that sells good quality Canadian products at reasonable prices, and is incentivized by the membership system to focus on providing customer satisfaction not short-term profits.
I've given up Costco for the boycott, but it hurts so much buying overpriced stuff from the grocery cartels. Imagine if a reborn HBC could fill that role?
