A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Posted May 30thnd, 2025 on Niagara At Large
Final days for the Hudson’s Bay store at the Pen Centre shopping mall in St. Catharines/Niagara. photo by Doug Draper
(A quick forward note from Doug Draper – In a way, I can’t believe I am writing a lament to the closing of a retail store, but I hope I have succeeded in making one or two larger points that speak to our times here.)
I took one last a walk through the big Hudson’s Bay store at the Pen Centre in St. Catharines this last week of May and I could not help but think of my late mother and so many of her peers who came of age during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War that followed.
Final days of the Hudson’s Bay store at the Pen Centre in St. Catharines/Niagara, photo by Doug Draper
When the war was over and they were starting homes and families, one of the things they enjoyed was opening the mail box and finding one of those big fat catalogues from stores like Eaton’s Simpson Sears and Hudson’s Bay.
Many of us from the post World War II Baby Boomer Generation may remember trips we took with our parents to those stores that, at the time, seemed like grand retail palaces glittering with just about anything (outside of groceries) that a person might want to buy.
When I walked past all of the ‘Store Closing” and ‘Liquidation’ signs at an entrance of the Hudson’s Bay store at the Pen Centre this past week, there was little left to buy as the store counts down to its final few days.
Manikins in a Hudson’s Bay store, looking like zombies in a sci fi movie.
All I mostly saw were empty shelves and, over in a corner of the store, dozens of unclothed, stark-white manikins that reminded me of ‘The Night of the Body Snatchers’ or zombie-like characters in one of those other creepy Sci Fi movie.
I also saw employees putting on a brave face while possibly wondering if they will ever receive a penny of severance or other benefits they deserve from corporate masters who will quite likely get out with golden parachutes while using unfair bankruptcy rules as an excuse not to provide remuneration to anyone else.
It was a sad final journey through that store and one that was probably inevitable given the preference of so many in today’s ‘brave new world’ for shopping online and having whatever they buy delivered to their door.
That may be progress and to many out there, I am probably sounding old fashioned.
But I can’t help but wonder if people may live to regret the day that places like this that served as one more opportunity for getting out from behind those super-seductive screens and engaging with others face to face in the community are gone.
Would we really rather spend most of our waking days behind those screens and running the risk of becoming zombies, like those manikins in the store?
Farewell to one of the last of these grand old stores.
-
Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
To read a related CBC story, click on – Liquidation begins at remaining Hudson’s Bay stores, including Toronto flagship | CBC News
To read another story offering background on the history and closing of Hudson’s Bay stores, click on – https://theconversation.com/hudsons-bay-liquidation-what-happens-when-a-company-goes-bankrupt-252784
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