Search results
Founded in 1670, we are North America’s longest continually operating company and are headquartered in New York and Toronto. Learn more. Retail. Our portfolio businesses feature some of the most iconic brands in retail: Hudson’s Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5TH.
- Our Company
Founded in 1670, HBC is North America’s longest continually...
- Vendors
The HBC vendor portal allows existing vendor partners easy...
- Our Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; French: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, and now owns and operates retail stores across the country.
Apr 11, 2024 · Hudson’s Bay Company, corporation that occupies a prominent place in both the economic and the political history of Canada. It was incorporated in England on May 2, 1670, to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific, to occupy the lands adjacent to Hudson Bay, and to carry on any commerce with those.
- Beginnings: 17th Century
- Indigenous Peoples
- Struggle For Control of The Fur Trade: 18th Century
- New Organizational Structure: 19th Century
- Relinquishing Colonial Responsibilities
- Natural-Resource Development
- Retail Expansion
- 21st Century
- Branding and Logos
- Olympic Outfitter
In the 17th century, the fur trade emerged as a major commercial enterprise in North America due to European demand for felt hats made from beaver fur. French traders Médard Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson were the first to propose a trading company to reach the interior of the continent via Hudson Bay and gain easier access to ...
After trapping during the fall and winter when beaver pelts were of the highest quality, in the summer months, Indigenous peoples travelled to these trading posts to barter furs for manufactured goods such as metal tools, guns, textiles and foodstuffs. The now-iconic point blanket was one such item bartered for furs. Often, Indigenous traders were ...
Until 1763, the HBC struggled with the French for control of the fur trade in southern Rupert’s Land. In the early years, a series of naval and land battles took place on Hudson and James bays. In 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, France acknowledged England’s claim to Hudson Bay. For the next 60 years, the HBC erected posts only at the mouths of maj...
Bringing together the different business traditions of the North West Company and HBC required changes in the administrative structure of the new company. British North America was divided into trading departments, which were then subdivided into districts. District managers met annually in departmental council meetings presided over by the governo...
Although the company’s primary concern remained the fur trade, it became increasingly involved in providing government for settlers in the Red River Valley and on Vancouver Island. Between 1812 and 1834, the governors of Assiniboia were agents of the Selkirk estate, although they were overshadowed by the HBC. In 1834, the company resumed jurisdicti...
Involvement in natural-resource development stemmed naturally out of the HBC’s fur trade and real estate activities. In 1926, it co-founded Hudson’s Bay Oil and Gas (HBOG); in 1973, it acquired 35 per cent of Siebens Oil and Gas. In 1979, it disposed of the latter and in 1980 bought controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. In 1982, the HBOG investme...
As economic development in the Prairie West accelerated after 1870, the company did an increasing amount of business with settlers. Initially, most of this activity was carried on at its trading posts. Since it differed in many respects from the trade with Indigenous groups, separate sales shop accounts were kept. From this modest beginning, the HB...
While the company built its brand around the department store setting and selling over the counter, the 2000s brought a change in the retail landscape. Traditional ways of selling goods were challenged by online retailers. The company first offered an online shopping experience in 2000, a direct response to this evolving retail landscape. Declining...
Beginning in 1965, the department store embraced the short form of its name, “The Bay,” and its logo featured a prominent B. In 2013, HBC’s logo underwent a significant overhaul, using a wordmark from the HBC red ensign. The new logo and the department store’s return to the fuller mantle of “Hudson’s Bay” was an effort to acknowledge the company’s ...
In 2005, the company began its partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and was named the Official Department Store and General Merchandise Store Operator in Canada. HBC, taking over from Roots Canada, outfitted the Canadian Olympic team with iconic toques and mittens. The most popular iteration of these products was produced for the 2...
Hudson's Bay ( French: La Baie d'Hudson ), also known as The Bay (French: La Baie ), is a Canadian department store chain. It is the flagship brand of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the oldest and longest-surviving company in North America as well as one of the oldest and largest continuously operating companies in the world. [7] [8]
People also ask
Is Hudson's Bay a Canadian company?
Is Hudson Bay Company a merchandising company?
Why was the Hudson Bay Company incorporated?
What is Hudson's Bay known for?
May 2, 2020 · 18 minutes. By Melissa Gismondi. Illustrations by Kerry Hodgson. There are many ways to tell the story of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which claimed and traded on some eight million square kilometres of the Earth’s surface, including large parts of Canada and the northwestern United States.
