From Christmas magic to first jobs: Customers share heartfelt memories of the Bay

Judith shows her full-length four-point coat she bought at the Bay in 2017 after the location in Station Mall, Sault Ste. Marie closed (Photo by Judith Beduhn)

“When I wear the coat, I feel as though I’m carrying a piece of Canadian history.”

Those are the words of Judith Beduhn of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., who purchased her “dream” coat at a closing Hudson’s Bay location at Station Mall decades ago. Beduhn said she can’t recall the exact year.

Beduhn, a history graduate who would regularly read the Canada’s History magazine formerly known as the Beaver, was keen on Hudson’s Bay and its past.

With four small children, the full-length four-point coat always seemed out of reach. But now, with a half-off price-tag, Beduhn had to snag the opportunity. “I’d always wanted to get one. It’s very heavy so I haven’t worn it an awful lot, but every winter I drag it out for cold days,” she told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview Wednesday.

In her northern Ontario community, Beduhn says eyes follow her four-striped coat, adding she’s only seen one other person sport the coat in a shorter length. She wonders how many more people in Sault Ste. Marie own the “historical document,” as Beduhn describes it.

Aside from the coat, Beduhn says she gifted her cousin in the U.K. nearly 40 years ago a stone carving that she purchased at the Bay. “I used to go in there and just look around because it was true Canadiana items, made in Canada.”

Beduhn also says she was given “beautiful” painted rocks, but the origin was unknown until she saw a similar item at the Bay with a price tag of $400. “When I saw the price, they were no longer door stoppers,” she says with a laugh.

When asked about how the current Hudson’s Bay landscape is shaping out to be, she says she feels sad. “I hate to see that part of history closing down,” she adds.

For many Canadians, the iconic Hudson’s Bay stripes stand for generations of tradition linked to the nearly 400-year-old retail chain.

The bold bands of green, red, yellow and blue – draped across blankets, sweaters, coats and shopping bags – hold stories of first jobs, family traditions and holiday trips that changed lives.

As Hudson’s Bay faces a new, uncertain future – with stores closing its doors and liquidation sales ongoing – longtime customers are reminiscing about the cherished memories they experienced within its walls.

Beduhn is one of dozens of readers who reached out to CTVNews.ca to share their fondest memories of Hudson’s Bay. CTVNews.ca has not independently verified all the emailed responses.

For Vincenzo Lacroce of Montreal, the Bay was where he met the love of his life.

More than 30 years ago, Lacroce says he was a stock boy on the fourth floor of the downtown Montreal location.

Lacroce says his wife was replacing a colleague who worked for Hallmark. By the end of the week, he asked for her number. “The rest is history,” he wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca.

The couple has been together for more than 25 years.

A portal into the past

Joe Lucio’s connection to Hudson’s Bay runs even deeper into history. In 1956, at just 16 years old, he responded to a newspaper ad that read: “Young Men Wanted by the Hudson’s Bay Company.”

Lucio says he was hired after his first interview and signed a two-year contract where he was posted in northern Saskatchewan on Dec. 22, 1956, to work in the fur trade division as a clerk in training.

Founded in 1670, Hudson’s Bay Co. started as a fur trading company before evolving into a department store.

With a salary of $150 a month – of which $50 went to room and board – Lucio found himself immersed in the rugged, historic roots of the company, calling it the “greatest experience in life.”

For Richard Bull of Brandon, Man., a trip to the Bay was a ritual. Starting in the 1950s through the early ‘60s, his family would drive into Winnipeg on Saturdays to the Bay.

While his mom and sister would head to the women’s clothing section, Bull says he and his dad would make their first stop at the malt shop before shuffling into the sports goods department.

Bull says they would rejoin his mother and sister at the Paddlewheel restaurant for lunch.

Later in the ‘70s, Bull says he continued the same tradition with his own family.

Mike O’Dwyer of southern Alberta says Hudson’s Bay is tied to an unforgettable memory. In 1964, his family drove from small-town Alberta, at the time, to Calgary to shop at the Bay.

As he rode the escalator up to one of the floors, they found themselves face-to-face with a piece of history: the bobsleigh that Team Canada’s four-man team used to win gold at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Old and new traditions

More than three decades ago, Melodie Deschenes of Ottawa says when she was 18 and first moved to the city to find a job, her first credit card was from the Bay.

Fresh out of high school, her first purchase was an interview suit. Year after year, she returned and bought more professional outfits. “I have fond memories of finding just the right outfit at the Bay,” Deschenes says.

As a child of Greek immigrants, Stefanos Karabas of Etobicoke, Ont., saw the Bay as a place that catered both to the wealthy and working class. It inspired him to dream bigger and to “strive for more in life,” he writes.

Out of his memorable items, Karabas says in 1983, he and his brother, who were in middle school at the time, worked part-time jobs and scrounged a few pennies together to buy a Ralph Lauren Polo cologne – a fan favourite among young teens at the time.

“I remember the scent back then made you feel like you had $1 million in your pocket,” he says.

Later on, with his own family, Karabas started an annual shopping tradition, visiting the Toronto Eaton Centre’s Bay during Christmas for gifts and photos with Santa.

This story has been edited to correct when the Hudson’s Bay location at Station Mall closed.