A Link Is Lost

In Canada, nothing represents tradition more than the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Hudson’s Bay Co. But in Canada, as here, economic reality is toppling tradition. As visitors to the north are aware, Hudson’s Bay metropolitan stores have gone modern. Known universally as “the Bay” stores, they are as up to date as any U.S. department store, often found anchoring a suburban shopping center.

But now Hudson’s Bay Co. has decided to sell the firm’s 178 northern stores, ranging from Labrador to the Yukon Territory, in order to reduce the drag caused by the diversified company’s large debt. The sale will sever the last link between the modern Bay stores and the original Hudson’s Bay Co., established by royal charter on May 2, 1670, as “the Company of Adventurers of England Tradeing into Hudson’s Bay.”

As expected, there has been much adverse reaction to the sale for 180 million Canadian dollars--less than just the interest that Hudson’s Bay paid on its total debt in 1986. The new owners must shed the Hudson’s Bay name in about two years.

Much of the debt was incurred in a bidding war over store chains. This is similar to U.S. merger mania, but something special has been lost to Canadians in the sale: a historic link to the very foundations of their proud nation.