The Bay: Going Away

[dewline]

The Bay was a retail fixture of my life. I didn't expect to outlive the company.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hudsons-bay-8300-employees-june-1-1.7544639

Comments

[kathleen_dailey]

I've written about this before, and I thought I was more or less over it by now, but when I saw news pics of the empty sales floors and all the shrink-wrapped mannequins, fixtures, etc., it made me feel bereft once again.

I know that one could say that The Bay was just another mismanaged retail chain, and that everything has a life span. But it was such an important part of personal and national history for all of us. That it should have existed and mostly thrived for 350-plus years but been unable, ultimately, to survive the capitalistic ruthlessness of the 21st century--it's incredibly sad.

I had thought about going down to the Queen Street store a couple of weeks ago just to say goodbye, but on balance I'm glad that I didn't. All my memories of The Bay are still fun, uplifting ones.