The company has a lengthy and significant history. In many ways HBC's history is Canada's history. It started as a fur trading business and at one time was the largest landowner in the world. It owned Rupert's Land, which occupied 15% of North America's entire landmass.
From the 1960's to the 1990's, the company absorbed and re-branded several Canadian department stores, not unlike what Macy's has done across The United States. These included Morgan's, Woodward's and Simpson's, among others. The company also purchased and opened new store chains such as Zellers and Field's.
The company today includes 90 Canadian department store locations under the new name and branding 'Hudson's Bay'. It also owns a few remaining Zellers locations, America's Lord & Taylor department store chain, and Home Outfitters.
We will be analysing the company's current modernization strategy. The company is attempting to change what was considered to be a fusty store with uninteresting merchandise and poor customer service. Improvements have been made but the company has far to go.
For more on The Hudson's Bay Company's history, we are providing links to some of today's article research sources: