City Bay stores already closed as last-minute shoppers arrive

Rogelio and Mercedita de Ocampo were hoping to buy one last souvenir from Hudson’s Bay Co. but had to settle for a selfie in front of a shuttered department store instead.

The iconic company announced last month that June 1 would mark the final shopping day at its stores.

Both CF Polo Park and St. Vital Centre — where Winnipeg’s last Bay stores were located — listed on their websites that the locations were open Sunday, but last-minute shoppers found the stores already permanently closed.

That included the de Ocampos, who have been customers at the Bay since emigrating from the Philippines in 2009.

“We’re sad because we thought it would be open today,” Mercedita said, adding that she’s concerned about the employees who worked at the store. “We’re thinking of them.”

Established in 1670, Hudson’s Bay filed for creditor protection in March and announced it would liquidate its 80 Bay Stores and 17 Saks-linked locations in Canada.

Consumers flocked to the stores to take advantage of liquidation sales that started at the end of March. By May 23, items were advertised with 70 to 80 per cent discounts. Just about everything in the stores was for sale, including fixtures and mannequins.

Jill Johnson visited the CF Polo Park location Sunday in hopes of purchasing fixtures for her walk-in closet. The Charleswood resident’s sister had told her the store would still be open.

The 61-year-old shopped at the Bay on rare occasions and while she wasn’t surprised when the company declared bankruptcy, she’s concerned about what losing the Bay means for CF Polo Park.

“(It’s) just another big loss for another mall,” she said. “A big anchor gone.”

CF Polo Park management did not respond to requests for comment on Friday and Sunday.

“Hopefully even though the Hudson’s Bay is closing we’re still getting traffic in the mall… I’m concerned about because a lot of people come to Hudson’s Bay and then visit the mall.”– Kyle Dayanghirang, sales consultant at Best Buy Express, located next to the Bay.

A sales consultant at Best Buy Express, located next to the Bay, said the store’s final day was last Wednesday.

“Hopefully even though the Hudson’s Bay is closing we’re still getting traffic in the mall,” Kyle Dayanghirang said. “That’s primarily the main thing I’m concerned about because a lot of people come to Hudson’s Bay and then visit the mall.”

He noted that the Polo Park shop had been plagued by closures due to heat, ventilation and air conditioning issues in sweltering heat.

In the last couple of months, “customers would come in wondering why they were closed already,” he said.

At 11 a.m. at St. Vital Centre, the sounds of latches being unlocked and security barriers being pushed to the side could be heard throughout the mall — but not at the Bay.

The Bay’s St. Mary’s Road front entrance was boarded up and the mall entrance was locked with a gate covered by black boards.

Friday was the final shopping day at that location, Kyle Waterman, the mall’s general manager, wrote in an email. He was unavailable for further comment.

Amie Hart, a piercing artist at Blush Studio next door, noticed people taking pictures in front of the Bay “constantly” during the last few weeks.

“It’s very nostalgic for a lot of people,” she said. “I know there are a lot of people who are upset about it.”

Archana Singh was disappointed to find the St. Vital location closed Sunday. She has shopped at the Bay since arriving in Canada from Nepal in 1996.

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Singh likened shopping at the Bay to going to her mother’s house.

“We are immigrants, we are here from a faraway country, and it used to feel soothing coming to the Bay,” she said, adding that she worked as a cashier at Bay locations in B.C. and Manitoba. “I used to feel very proud working there.”

The Free Press phoned 15 Bay locations throughout western Canada and Ontario Sunday afternoon. Ten stores did not answer; phone numbers at two stores appeared to be disconnected; an automated message at one location said the store was now closed; and three stores were open.

An employee at the Southgate Centre location in Edmonton said the store would be open until 6 p.m. and that 90 per cent discounts were available. At the Midtown Plaza store in Saskatoon just about everything was on sale for $2, an employee there said, adding the location would close mid-afternoon.

Meanwhile, an employee at the Bay store at CF Eaton Centre in Toronto said it would be open until 7 p.m. local time.

The early closing of the Winnipeg locations marked a quiet end for a company that’s 355 years old and famous for its green, red, yellow and blue stripes.

The New York Times reported on the closure Sunday, describing the Bay as “much more than just a retailer and the last traditional, full-line department store chain in Canada.”

When the company announced its financial troubles in March, it blamed a drop in consumer spending amid rising living costs, a downturn in visits to downtown stores since the COVID-19 pandemic and trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada.

A representative from the company could not be reached for comment Sunday.

“…we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your support and loyalty over the years,” the message read. “It has been our pleasure to serve you, and we are truly thankful for the trust you placed in us.”– message posted in recent days on thebay.com thanking customers for their patronage.

Anyone who visited thebay.com in recent days was greeted with a message thanking customers for their patronage.

“…we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your support and loyalty over the years,” the message read. “It has been our pleasure to serve you, and we are truly thankful for the trust you placed in us.”

At one time, there were at least five Bay stores in Winnipeg.

A Bay store in Kildonan Place Shopping Centre closed in 2000 and the company did not reopen a Bay store that closed the same year, when the Unicity Mall was demolished to be redeveloped. The flagship downtown location closed in 2020.

Canadian Tire announced last month it had purchased the Hudson’s Bay name and all of the company’s other intellectual properties.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca

Aaron Epp
Reporter

Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. He was previously the associate editor at Canadian Mennonite. Read more about Aaron.