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Woodward's

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Woodward's Stores Limited
Company typeDepartment store chain
IndustryRetail
Founded1892
Defunct1993
FateFiled for bankruptcy, stores sold to Hudson's Bay Company
HeadquartersCanada Vancouver, British Columbia
Products(Full-Line Department Stores) Clothing, grocery, pharmacy, footwear, bedding, hardware, furniture, appliances, electronics, cosmetics, jewellery, china, imported specialties, housewares, sporting goods, stationary, toys, home textiles, restaurant, garden centre (auto centres at most locations); services at stores also included: travel agency, book stores, optical, hair salon, shoe repair.
ParentWoodward Stores Ltd.

Woodward's was the name of a department store chain which operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada for one hundred years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).

Charles Woodward established the first Woodward store at the corner of Main and Georgia Streets in Vancouver in 1892. On September 12, 1902 Woodward Department Stores Ltd. was incorporated, and a new store was built in Vancouver on the corner of Hastings and Abbott Streets. In 1926, a store was opened in Edmonton, and by the late 1940s, the company began to open numerous stores in both provinces. Facing financial difficulties, Woodward's was sold to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1993.

Woodward's was a central feature of the retail scene especially in southwestern British Columbia for much of the twentieth century. The chain was distinctive in that the stores included a large supermarket (the "Food Floor") as an adjunct or at some locations part of the department store. When Woodward's sold the Food Floor - long known for its quality and its line of unusual specialities - to Safeway, the flagship food floor became a reduced-size IGA store until the building closed as Safeway showed no interest in that location, which contributed to the decay of the city[s Downtown Eastside. Many older western Canadians remember fondly Woodward's famous "Dollar Forty-nine Days" sales.

Most Woodward's locations were converted to HBC's Bay or Zellers stores by the end of 1993. Other major retailers took over several stores, and the remaining locations were either closed or were divided into mall retail space. The closure of Woodward's locations in many malls sparked redevelopment and expansion of a number of the centres, such as Chinook Centre in Calgary. In a number of malls, Woodward's "spread out", operating separate operations such as a book store. The disappearance of Woodward's required these now-closed shops to also be replaced.

Woodward's also operated two stand alone Furniture Fair stores in Burnaby (which became Costco's first location in Canada in 1985, and is now the location of Vancouver's only Wal-Mart store) and Edmonton in the 1970s and off-price stores called Woodwynn (similar to Winners) in BC and Alberta (some within Woodward's Stores), which were originally known as Woodward's Bargain Stores.

Locations

British Columbia

The flagship Woodward's building grew incrementally (14 additions) until its peak when it filled almost an entire city block bounded by Cordova, Hastings and Abbott Streets in downtown Vancouver. Only the original 1903-08 portion of the building remains after September 30, 2006, the day when most of the building fell in a "roll over" demolition which was witnessed by thousands.

  • Vancouver
    • (Downtown, 101 W. Hastings St) -- mostly demolished under redevelopment (Upper levels housed Woodward's head office)
    • (Oakridge Centre) 1959 -- currently The Bay & Zellers (3 floor store - was very large and divided into two mid-size anchors); there was also a stand-alone Food Floor in the Arbutus Village Shopping Centre (1974) which is now a Safeway store.
  • West Vancouver (Park Royal Centre) -- (Canada's first shopping centre in 1950) is now currently The Bay (which moved from location in the South Mall).
  • Burnaby (Metrotown Centre) 1986 -- currently Zellers & a T&T Supermarket on the lower main floor (store was 3 floors)
  • Nanaimo (Woodgrove Centre) 1981 -- converted to The Bay. The Bay moved in 2000 to larger former Eaton's location in mall, original Bay store demolished and a Wal-Mart store built on the site
  • Port Alberni (downtown - 3rd Ave) -- currently a Zellers (freestanding store), adjacent former Woodward's Food Floor which Zellers expanded into. (One of the original stores - opened in 1948)
  • Victoria (Mayfair Centre) 1974 -- currently The Bay. It replaced the original 1950s freestanding Victoria store, which was located downtown on Douglas Street
  • Penticton (Cherry Lane Mall) 1975 -- currently The Bay
  • New Westminster (Royal City Centre) replaced the original 1954 freestanding store in 1991 when a new store was built on the adjacent parking area, the original store was then demolished and replaced with a new shopping mall, office and residential buildings. The store was converted to Zellers after HBC takeover in 1993 and then closed in 2006, Dollarama and Labels have located on the lower main floor, the 2nd floor is being converted to office space in 2008.
  • Richmond (Lansdowne Centre) 1977 -- converted to Zellers originally, Zellers moved in 2000 to larger, former Eaton's space in the mall, currently a Future Shop, Home Outfitters & JYSK and other retailers.
  • Surrey (Guildford Town Centre) 1966 -- currently The Bay
  • Prince George (Parkwood Mall) 1966 -- currently The Bay
  • Coquitlam (Coquitlam Centre) 1979 -- currently Sears (as The Bay & Zellers have existing locations in the mall)
  • Abbotsford (Sevenoaks Centre) 1975 -- currently The Bay
  • Kamloops (Aberdeen Mall) 1981 -- originally converted to a Zellers store (Zellers has since moved to new larger location nearby), now currently a new Sears store (the Aberdeen Mall Woodward's store replaced the original (1963) Kamloops downtown store in 1981, which is now the British Columbia Lottery Corporation headquarters building)

Alberta

  • Calgary
    • (Chinook Centre) 1960 -- currently The Bay (was the first Calgary store - 1960)
    • (Market Mall) 1970 -- currently Zellers & additional mall retail space
    • (Sunridge Mall) 1981 -- currently Zellers & additional mall retail space
  • Edmonton
    • (Southgate Centre) 1970 -- originally converted to Eaton's in 1993, now currently a Sears store (largest in Alberta)
    • (Edmonton City Centre, Downtown) -- originally replaced by The Bay in 1993, recently The Bay has moved into the former Eaton's store when the mall underwent major renovations in 2001, it is now replaced by Winners, World Health Club, Sport Chek, CBC Edmonton's studios, mall retail & office space. (The original Downtown Edmonton store was rebuilt and opened in 1974 as part of the Edmonton Centre Mall complex).
    • (Westmount Centre) -- currently Zellers and office space, the adjacent Food Floor (Safeway) was demolished and replaced in 2008 with a Home Depot. (Second Edmonton store - 1955)
    • (Northgate) -- originally converted to a Kmart store on lower floor, now currently a Zellers (the upper floor is being converted to office space in 2008 - was vacant and used for storage since the store closed).
    • (Mill Woods Town Centre) 1988 -- originally converted to Eaton's, currently Zellers
    • (West Edmonton Mall) 1985 (Phase 3) -- originally converted to The Bay (2nd store in mall), now has been divided into mall retail space (primarily an HMV location) and cinemas
  • Lethbridge (Lethbridge Centre) 1975 -- currently The Bay
  • Red Deer (Bower Place Mall) 1981 -- currently The Bay

See also

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