B.C. shoppers feeling nostalgic as Hudson’s Bay stores close for good

Shoppers at the Park Royal Hudson's Bay location were feeling nostalgic as the historic department store's liquidation sale came to a close.

Shoppers hoping to score last-minute deals on the final day of the Bay clearance sale at the Park Royal location in West Vancouver were disappointed to find almost no merchandise remained.

The store was nearly empty except for fixtures and mannequins that were available for purchase. Employees were seen hugging and crying on the final day of operation, as all Hudson’s Bay locations prepared to close their doors for good at end of business day Sunday.

Longtime Bay shopper Joanna McGuinness didn’t come looking for bargains.

“I just want to go in and weep a bit before it’s closing. It’s really sad,” she said. “I’ve been coming to the Bay for so many years, and it’s unbelievable that it’s no longer.”

“It is sad. But, I mean, the era of the department store is gone. It’s now online sales. This is inevitability, right?” said Philip James, who came to the Park Royal store on the final day with his daughter, Sophia.

“I think it’s sad that everything’s moving online, because human connection is so important and we are moving into this world where everything is going online. And so it starts with something like the Bay closing, which was a huge store, but then it moves into other things and more places where people go start closing, and then what do we have left?” said Sophia James.

A Vancouver Island billionaire has signed a deal to acquire the leases on 28 Hudson’s Bay store locations in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. But it’s unclear if she can use any of the Bay branding, which has been bought by Canadian Tire.

Shoppers say either way, it won’t be the same.

“It’s one of the first department stores I went to apart from Eaton’s, who of course also closed down. So now there’s nobody left,” said McGuinness. “It’s it really goes back to the beginning of Canada. It’s just amazing that that we can’t continue it, that nobody can save it.”