I walked through this HBC almost every day while going to Center High next door between 2012-2014. A few years back (2018), I walked through this mall to get to a meeting. I was shocked how much the mall had changed, how many stores had closed, and how some floors had just disappeared, like the bottom level with the old food court, leading to the parkade. That floor had virtually disappeared since the last time I had been to the mall and was now some sort of showroom.
The side of the mall with the food court is somewhat busy, but the one with the former Bay and movie theatre is totally dead. Nothing but phone retailers and banks there now.
Thanks for the amazing work over the past years. My wife moved away from E-Ville in 2011, and i followed in 2016 to Rural Ontario. We both had negative memories to escape from. Your channel has not only provided a connection to old memories (We're both 42 now) but awesome updates to what has been changing and and evolving with the Commerce in downtown Edmonton. (This one regarding the Bay is sad) I wish someone still remembered the Arcade that sat within the Old Dance hall (Turned jewelery store) on 101st (facing west) and sat Directly across from a movie theatre on what is now Manulife place between 102 ave and Jasper ave...(almost directly between City centre and Scotia place.....in around 1988.
When my family would come into the city we’d stay at the Delta and my dad would take us there to buy toys. Lots of fond memories. Gonna miss this place :(
This mall itself rapidly changed over the 2010s, I remember going there in 2010-2014 and seeing how packed it was and how much it was thriving, and then somehow the mall took a complete nosedive (not gradual) and shut down many of its stores with the bottom floor (old foodcourt) virtually dissapearing. I don't see this mall surviving the next 10 years.
I grew up with my parents going shopping to the Bay and we would always eat in the resturant, they made the best Turkey sandwiches (actual hand cut turkey) and my dad always got the veal cutlets with gravy and mashed potatoes.
So sad to see a downtown retail icon such as this shutter. Imagine when this store was in the original downtown building, back in its heyday when these places were where you went to socialize, eat, and shop, and people were everywhere. Such a contrast. Growing up in Calgary, the downtown Bay here holds many special memories of shopping with my mom and eating at the now defunct 6th floor restaurant, I hope it doesn’t meet a similar fate.
Fionn Maccools was the go to date spot with my girlfriend before or after catching a movie at the theatre. Last time we went we were the only people watching a movie, in the afternoon, and Fionn's was empty. Sad day because the writing was on the wall, and we knew we would miss both.
i feel like the entire city centre mall is starting to die with the amount of closed stores there are because of the pandemic and such. it's honestly pretty saddening
I used to travel to Edmonton yearly as a kid and I would stay at the Delta Centre Suite Hotel with my family. I used to go to Eaton's to see the stuff to buy and would go mini golfing on the basement level when it used to be there. Sadly it's nothing more than a memory unfortunately. Wish there were photos of it to remember
Awesome video Matt and Craig...so sad to see yet another integral part of Canada's history die. Growing up I always loved the HBC stores. Such iconic buildings and great staff, restaurants and a shopping experience you just can't get online. Sadly it seems most of Canada's Bay stores appear to headed this way as most folks these days appear to value convenience over quality. So happy to have been able to experience the original department store most of my life and the memories will live on. Great work on this vid you 2. Would be awesome to see a video at Fort Edmonton sometime...I love that place. :)
I want to feel bad for The Bay but I just can't. Long have they been overpriced with staff that prefers not to help the customer. It was a place where you were treated one way while dressed nice, then another way while dressed down. Lookin' at you, ladies who worked the perfume & make-up counters. I'm from the era of Sears, Eatons & Woolco, too. The only one I really miss is Zellers (owned by the Bay at the time, but at least it was more affordable).
So sad to see when a department store decides to shutter a flagship downtown location. Calgary downtown has been spared, but they are “right sizing” from 5 floors to 3 floors. With that said, I’ve been to the Edmonton city centre store once while visiting Edmonton. It reminded me so much of The Bay store I worked at as a teenager. The iconic late 90’s blue print for stores that were former Woodward’s or Eaton’s. They all were almost cookie cutter in style. Like the walkways delineated by white tile with charcoal grey border tiles in the stores of that era. Now, most Hudson’s Bay stores, that I assume were high traffic/profitable, have gone through extensive Reno’s before the pandemic hit, so there are very few left in that style.
Don't know if it is still there, but in the Southgate Bay they had a section that was done up in the original 80's style with some wallpaper supposedly from the 70's hidden from view by a later drop down ceiling. You could pop open the tiles and see this weird floral print, probably super flammable, but with the amount of asbestos in there it all balanced out. There are some pretty neat areas in that Bay, part of the malls boiler and air con system is there, in a 20 meter long room that looks like an engineering section out of a warship. In one storage room were the remnants of the old switchboard system when the operator had to manually switch the phone lines for incoming calls to the correct department, though that one is probably gone now with several renovations. The dock there also had the most rickety catwalk partly built out of wood, and there were the old tracks from an elevator which had been ripped out in the 90's.
I use to shop at this store when I first moved to Edmonton in 2007 great memories, I understand this location was the old Eaton's Dept store till it went out of business and Hudson's Bay was located where CBC studios is located now.
My father worked maintenance for Eatons back when it was the Eatons Centre... the outside of HBC and the lowest floor used to be mini golf.. interesting to see how it changed over the years.
I appreciate your acknowledgment of the traditional lands and indigenous peoples as I am actually native, Other than that, this was a great video keep it up!
Quite sad. I remember going to the Bay for lunch and then shopping with my mom as a kid. Thank goodness that they were able to keep the original building!
This is slightly unrelated, but I was at WEM tonight walking past the Santa Maria, I noticed the nameplate on the back simply says "The Ship at West Edmonton Mall". Did they rename it or am I mistaken about its (former) name?
I always liked City Centre Mall, it's a shame that the downtown revitalization and increased population won't even have a positive effect now because of online shopping and covid.
Seriously dating myself but does anyone else remember following Captain Hudson around the Jasper Ave location as he went through the store on Bay Day offering extreme discounts on merchandise in pretty much every department? It was so much fun and I got some excellent bargains! Another loss in Edmonton and potentially Canada’s history as it seems likely the whole chain will eventually be a thing of the past. 😢
Since they messed up Traffic Flow with Bike Lanes, getting rid of the One Ways, choking Jasper Ave down to One Lane near 101st, and Blocking of 102a Ave, I rarely go into Downtown. It is a place to Avoid, and I used to work there.
I somehow missed this video. Shocking to just learn that downtown HBC closed. Edmonton is most definitely going to be nothing like I left it five years ago.
Whoever’s idea was to start construction on that road from Holts to the Bay is responsible for closing down both those stores… I’m so mad, that was my favourite area to go shopping, hit YMCA on the weekends, etc…
@@BestEdmontonMall i fear city centre mall will go the way of the malls i see on the dead mall series. They shut down the basement level i used to work at in the source down there across from fatburger and one of the two food courts that used to be down there. And now the bay is gone and the sportcheck and winners are the only remaining big stores in the mall. I sadly thing the malls days are numbered.
Yes true. It wasn't my intention to imply that it was - but I suppose cutting to it when mentioning Woodwards does suggest that it was. Thanks for clarifying for everyone!
It is really to bad the cost of parking is so high in the down town area making it to expensive to bother with free parking at all none down town the malls and restaurants with exception White Ave as parking is expensive there also.
yeah I don't see this happening. I live right beside WEM and often go out of my way to go to Kingsway or Southgate especially if I'm just running in and out to one specific store.
Honestly, the City Centre Mall is practically a dead zone in Edmonton. I go down there every couple of months (I live 30 mins outside the city) and there aren't too many shops open in the mall itself anymore. I can tell that they are trying to revieve parts of the mall, but big portions of it are basically an indoor walking space.
Special thanks to Craig Patterson at Retail Insider for the help on this one! Check out retail-insider.com/
I walked through this HBC almost every day while going to Center High next door between 2012-2014. A few years back (2018), I walked through this mall to get to a meeting. I was shocked how much the mall had changed, how many stores had closed, and how some floors had just disappeared, like the bottom level with the old food court, leading to the parkade. That floor had virtually disappeared since the last time I had been to the mall and was now some sort of showroom.
The side of the mall with the food court is somewhat busy, but the one with the former Bay and movie theatre is totally dead. Nothing but phone retailers and banks there now.
I’m old enough to remember the mini-golf course on the bottom level of the mall….
I don't think HBC will see out this decade. Soon to be gone just like Sears, Eaton's, Woodward's, Zellers and many others.
Thanks for the amazing work over the past years. My wife moved away from E-Ville in 2011, and i followed in 2016 to Rural Ontario. We both had negative memories to escape from. Your channel has not only provided a connection to old memories (We're both 42 now) but awesome updates to what has been changing and and evolving with the Commerce in downtown Edmonton. (This one regarding the Bay is sad) I wish someone still remembered the Arcade that sat within the Old Dance hall (Turned jewelery store) on 101st (facing west) and sat Directly across from a movie theatre on what is now Manulife place between 102 ave and Jasper ave...(almost directly between City centre and Scotia place.....in around 1988.
When my family would come into the city we’d stay at the Delta and my dad would take us there to buy toys. Lots of fond memories. Gonna miss this place :(
This mall itself rapidly changed over the 2010s, I remember going there in 2010-2014 and seeing how packed it was and how much it was thriving, and then somehow the mall took a complete nosedive (not gradual) and shut down many of its stores with the bottom floor (old foodcourt) virtually dissapearing. I don't see this mall surviving the next 10 years.
I grew up with my parents going shopping to the Bay and we would always eat in the resturant, they made the best Turkey sandwiches (actual hand cut turkey) and my dad always got the veal cutlets with gravy and mashed potatoes.
Oh, man, I miss department store restaurants. I remember eating at the Woolworth's lunch counter in NYC as a kid. Always loved their Fish and Chips.
So sad to see a downtown retail icon such as this shutter. Imagine when this store was in the original downtown building, back in its heyday when these places were where you went to socialize, eat, and shop, and people were everywhere. Such a contrast. Growing up in Calgary, the downtown Bay here holds many special memories of shopping with my mom and eating at the now defunct 6th floor restaurant, I hope it doesn’t meet a similar fate.
Very well said - oh how times have changed.
Fionn Maccools was the go to date spot with my girlfriend before or after catching a movie at the theatre. Last time we went we were the only people watching a movie, in the afternoon, and Fionn's was empty. Sad day because the writing was on the wall, and we knew we would miss both.
Def a go to channel for all things Edmonton, Please do more videos with upcoming projects, or something new in Edmonton.
Thank you! I'll try! :)
_"It's hard not to think of the Bay."_
That was certainly a heritage location.
Too bad it is gone now.
i feel like the entire city centre mall is starting to die with the amount of closed stores there are because of the pandemic and such. it's honestly pretty saddening
At the Bay in Saskatoon, there used to be a malt shop. My friend and I would take the bus downtown to get a malt most weekends. So good!!
I used to travel to Edmonton yearly as a kid and I would stay at the Delta Centre Suite Hotel with my family. I used to go to Eaton's to see the stuff to buy and would go mini golfing on the basement level when it used to be there. Sadly it's nothing more than a memory unfortunately. Wish there were photos of it to remember
Awesome video Matt and Craig...so sad to see yet another integral part of Canada's history die. Growing up I always loved the HBC stores. Such iconic buildings and great staff, restaurants and a shopping experience you just can't get online. Sadly it seems most of Canada's Bay stores appear to headed this way as most folks these days appear to value convenience over quality. So happy to have been able to experience the original department store most of my life and the memories will live on. Great work on this vid you 2. Would be awesome to see a video at Fort Edmonton sometime...I love that place. :)
Thanks Mike! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
I want to feel bad for The Bay but I just can't.
Long have they been overpriced with staff that prefers not to help the customer. It was a place where you were treated one way while dressed nice, then another way while dressed down. Lookin' at you, ladies who worked the perfume & make-up counters. I'm from the era of Sears, Eatons & Woolco, too. The only one I really miss is Zellers (owned by the Bay at the time, but at least it was more affordable).
The sign at 9:04 that reads "If you don't love them, leave them here" Are they talking about kids!?
So sad to see when a department store decides to shutter a flagship downtown location. Calgary downtown has been spared, but they are “right sizing” from 5 floors to 3 floors. With that said, I’ve been to the Edmonton city centre store once while visiting Edmonton. It reminded me so much of The Bay store I worked at as a teenager. The iconic late 90’s blue print for stores that were former Woodward’s or Eaton’s. They all were almost cookie cutter in style. Like the walkways delineated by white tile with charcoal grey border tiles in the stores of that era. Now, most Hudson’s Bay stores, that I assume were high traffic/profitable, have gone through extensive Reno’s before the pandemic hit, so there are very few left in that style.
Don't know if it is still there, but in the Southgate Bay they had a section that was done up in the original 80's style with some wallpaper supposedly from the 70's hidden from view by a later drop down ceiling. You could pop open the tiles and see this weird floral print, probably super flammable, but with the amount of asbestos in there it all balanced out. There are some pretty neat areas in that Bay, part of the malls boiler and air con system is there, in a 20 meter long room that looks like an engineering section out of a warship. In one storage room were the remnants of the old switchboard system when the operator had to manually switch the phone lines for incoming calls to the correct department, though that one is probably gone now with several renovations. The dock there also had the most rickety catwalk partly built out of wood, and there were the old tracks from an elevator which had been ripped out in the 90's.
Such a shame that it closed down, it would've been a nice one to check out. As I do enjoy the Hudson's Bay Company
The Bay in downtown Winnipeg closed a while back, didn't even realize it until I saw it was all boarded up.
I use to shop at this store when I first moved to Edmonton in 2007 great memories, I understand this location was the old Eaton's Dept store till it went out of business and Hudson's Bay was located where CBC studios is located now.
My father worked maintenance for Eatons back when it was the Eatons Centre... the outside of HBC and the lowest floor used to be mini golf.. interesting to see how it changed over the years.
I live in Edmonton! What a coincidence!
Farewell Hudsons bay company you will be missed very much
I appreciate your acknowledgment of the traditional lands and indigenous peoples as I am actually native, Other than that, this was a great video keep it up!
Woodward's! I thought it was Woolsworth or something... Great video. Such a memory trip
Quite sad. I remember going to the Bay for lunch and then shopping with my mom as a kid. Thank goodness that they were able to keep the original building!
This is slightly unrelated, but I was at WEM tonight walking past the Santa Maria, I noticed the nameplate on the back simply says "The Ship at West Edmonton Mall". Did they rename it or am I mistaken about its (former) name?
It was always called the Santa Maria but I would not be surprised if that name was now 'canceled' for reasons of cultural sensitivity.
Always loved that atrium
The continuing loss of department stores is so sad💔
I always liked City Centre Mall, it's a shame that the downtown revitalization and increased population won't even have a positive effect now because of online shopping and covid.
that and the general population are just cucks and afraid of downtown edmonton because the reddit says it should be avoided
@@bestestgaming8454 they're not wrong. High crime rate doesn't lie.
What's that song that plays around the 8 minute mark
You should do a video on what happened to the thunderbolt slide at world waterpark
I believe the store used the basement as a retail space in the 90's and early 2000's.
Seriously dating myself but does anyone else remember following Captain Hudson around the Jasper Ave location as he went through the store on Bay Day offering extreme discounts on merchandise in pretty much every department? It was so much fun and I got some excellent bargains!
Another loss in Edmonton and potentially Canada’s history as it seems likely the whole chain will eventually be a thing of the past.
😢
Since they messed up Traffic Flow with Bike Lanes, getting rid of the One Ways, choking Jasper Ave down to One Lane near 101st, and Blocking of 102a Ave, I rarely go into Downtown. It is a place to Avoid, and I used to work there.
I somehow missed this video. Shocking to just learn that downtown HBC closed. Edmonton is most definitely going to be nothing like I left it five years ago.
INCREDIBLE Great video Remember when they had a fuckin merry go round in the bay on Jasper where the UofA is?
The mall itself looks neat, but dead.
I went there for the store closing sales and there was no deal to be found
Whoever’s idea was to start construction on that road from Holts to the Bay is responsible for closing down both those stores… I’m so mad, that was my favourite area to go shopping, hit YMCA on the weekends, etc…
I wonder what’s gonna take over the bay location at Edmonton City center and I wonder when landmark cinema at Edmonton City Center will reopen
Department store spaces are difficult to fill without splitting them up...
@@BestEdmontonMall i fear city centre mall will go the way of the malls i see on the dead mall series. They shut down the basement level i used to work at in the source down there across from fatburger and one of the two food courts that used to be down there. And now the bay is gone and the sportcheck and winners are the only remaining big stores in the mall. I sadly thing the malls days are numbered.
Please do a video on the basement
I really like this mall. But having to pay for parking is does not motivate me to go there very often when parking is free elsewhere.
@4:34 - that's not the former Woodward's location - that was the former Eaton's location.
Yes true. It wasn't my intention to imply that it was - but I suppose cutting to it when mentioning Woodwards does suggest that it was.
Thanks for clarifying for everyone!
It is really to bad the cost of parking is so high in the down town area making it to expensive to bother with free parking at all none down town the malls and restaurants with exception White Ave as parking is expensive there also.
“I did not hit her. I did naaaht.
Oh hai Cher!”
I'm so glad someone got what I had in mind.
Hate to say it, but the department store concept is a dead relic...and I'm not sure that's a good thing either.
They should close all other malls in Edmonton and keep only wen open,they can expand it move more stores their
yeah I don't see this happening. I live right beside WEM and often go out of my way to go to Kingsway or Southgate especially if I'm just running in and out to one specific store.
They should get rid of WEM. It's a dinosaur.
Wem is a tourist attraction , other malls aren’t
The crackheads killed that mall
Do you like my relaxing videos?
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Things you don't care looking for the pot shop
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Honestly, the City Centre Mall is practically a dead zone in Edmonton. I go down there every couple of months (I live 30 mins outside the city) and there aren't too many shops open in the mall itself anymore. I can tell that they are trying to revieve parts of the mall, but big portions of it are basically an indoor walking space.