Saskatoon says goodbye to Hudson’s Bay: A look back at a storied legacy

Saskatoon is bidding farewell to one of its long-standing retail landmarks with the closure of the Hudson’s Bay store in Midtown mall, which has been a fixture in the city for over a century.

The store’s closing marks the end of an era, but its history is rich with stories of growth, innovation and a city’s transformation.

“For The Bay to come here in 1922, that’s kind of an investment in the future,” explained city archivist Jeff O’Brien. “That’s saying, yes, Saskatoon, we think you are going to be an important place for us to be. And so in our expansion here, we’re going to make sure we include Saskatoon.”

The Hudson’s Bay store at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 23rd Street in the 1930s. (Local History Collection, Saskatoon Public Library)

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In the beginning

Originally, the Hudson’s Bay Company had plans to expand into Saskatchewan in the early 1900s, but those plans were delayed.

However, by the 1920s, as the city experienced economic growth following World War I, Hudson’s Bay saw Saskatoon as a key location for its expansion.

A look at the original J.F. Cairns Store under construction in 1913 (Saskatoon Public Library)

The company purchased the J.F. Cairns department store, an impressive building for its time.

“It was quite a store. It was very modern. It had 25 departments and had a grocery store, a soda fountain, like a cafe and a diner,” said O’Brien, about the J.F. Cairns Department Store. “The newspaper called it the ‘one of the most exciting mercantile developments in Saskatoon history.’”

Built with reinforced concrete and a brick facade, the building opened for business in 1913.

A look at the original J.F. Cairns Store under construction in 1913 (Saskatoon Public Library)

It set the stage for what would become the Hudson’s Bay Store.

“The Hudson’s Bay Company came to Cairns and suggested they buy his store, which they did, for $750,000,” O’Brien said. “The company moved into that store on the corner, they put their own sign on the roof. For the next few decades, that is the Hudson’s Bay Company Store in Saskatoon.”

Interior view of the Hudson’s Bay store at 23rd Street and 2nd Avenue in the 1940s. This shows the “self-serve food market.” (Saskatoon Public Library)

The new and improved

In 1959, Hudson’s Bay embarked on a major modernization project, constructing a new building in place of the old J.F. Cairns store.

“There’s all this money coming in the 1950s and Hudson’s Bay decides it’s time for a change, so they’re going to build a modern building,” O’Brien reiterated.

This new building was sleek, with two sections that eventually merged into one larger space.

“They built half the store, moved everything into it, tore down the original J.F. Cairns building on the corner and then built back to the corner, so they have the whole property,” said O’Brien, pointing to fire insurance maps of the lot.

A fire insurance map from the 1950s shows the lot on which the original Hudson’s Bay Company company sat. (Saskatoon City Archives)

Known for its innovative design, the store introduced a new type of escalator to the city, making it one of the first to feature this cutting-edge technology.

“We had had escalators before, but these were fancy-schmancy escalators,” joked O’Brien. “The Hudson’s Bay Company escalators could handle 8000 passengers an hour.”

The building also featured a grand tile mosaic created in Italy, which became a distinctive part of the store’s exterior.

Inside the new Hudson’s Bay store in June 1961. (Saskatoon Public Library)

The 1960s saw further expansion with the addition of a fourth floor and a parkade across the street, complete with a skywalk connecting the two buildings.

“The other thing they had that a lot of people wouldn’t have known about was the tunnel between the parkade and the new building,” divulged O’Brien. “There was a delivery loading dock behind the parkade, and they would take stuff underneath the street, through this tunnel built into the store.”

This period cemented the Hudson’s Bay store as a major retail destination in Saskatoon, with many residents fondly remembering the unique shopping experience it offered.

“It was really an exciting retail shopping experience, to go into this store and be surrounded by all this stuff,” remembers O’Brien. “It’s like all these possibilities that you could that you could experience here in this one big place.”

Construction was completed on schedule and the new Bay store was officially opened on June 16, 1960. (Saskatoon Public Library)

The big move

As the retail landscape evolved, so too did Hudson’s Bay’s presence in Saskatoon.

In 1999, as Eaton’s closed its doors, Hudson’s Bay moved into the Midtown Centre, leaving behind its iconic building on 2nd Avenue and 23rd Street.

The original store was sold to a developer and transformed into condos and commercial space, marking the end of the Hudson’s Bay era in that location.

“They tore down the parkade in 2004, and the tunnel was filled in,” added O’Brien.

“The city salvaged the skywalk. It was the perfect thing to salvage because it was all one solid piece,” O’Brien went on to say. “The city did a bunch of renovations to the water treatment plant, and they used the skywalk to go across from the water treatment plant, across Avenue H, to the reservoir.”

An era gone by

Despite the changes, the Hudson’s Bay legacy remains etched in the memories of many Saskatoon residents, who recall the excitement of shopping in a bustling department store with its multiple floors and seasonal displays.

“Everything you could possibly want was in a department store,” O’Brien said, smiling.

The closure of the Hudson’s Bay store in Saskatoon signals the end of a chapter in the city’s retail history.

“In the end, that’s the legacy of the department stores: the fondness with which we old people remember them.”

As the city moves forward, the empty space left by Hudson’s Bay will undoubtedly be repurposed in new and innovative ways.

“There’s nothing more certain than change and people are clever. They will find ways to make those empty spaces useful again,” remarked O’Brien.

While the store’s doors may be closed for good, the memories and legacy of Hudson’s Bay in Saskatoon will continue to live on.