Sunday, September 28, 2008

Hudson's Bay Company

Flatmate Andrea and I went to the large shopping center in downtown Ottawa on Saturday, the Rideau Center, to see what could be seen.  The large department stores anchoring the shopping center were Sears (yes, Sears is Softer in Canada too) and a Canadian store called 'the Bay'.

The following train of thought occurred shortly after I arrived in Ottawa, and I just haven't gotten around to relating it in writing until recently.  I've verbally informed multiple people about this already.

I was thinking, geeze, the Bay... I wonder if that's an updated version of the Hudson's Bay Company... And it is!  The Hudson's Bay Company is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world.  A huge part of me wants to go to the Bay and attempt to purchase a striped wooly blanket and pay with a fox pelt or moose-skin.

The company logo: how very Pink Floyd of you, HBC.  Fact: they still sell striped wooly blankets, they're just paid for in Canadian dollars.





Yours truly, channeling my inner Mandi Schlegel, wearing a coat freshly stolen from Michael Jackson's wardrobe.  This was not at the Bay, but at some random store in the Rideau Center.  Mum would hate shopping here - all of the stores play 'that thumping music'.

Shopping here in Canada, unless I want to buy wooly blankets and maple syrup, seems to be a little on the 'lean pickings' side of things.  And the shoe selection here sucks really bad, all black and brown and loafery.

Seriously contemplating taking a Saturday and driving into upper New York to go to Target.  Is this bad?

6 comments:

Ynn said...

Is that an orange leather jacket? A stripey wooly blankie sounds divine - very warm and snuggy. Now that I think about it, I can't recall ever hearing about Canada being a hotbed of fashion forwardness. A trip to Target sound like it might be in order. Auntie Sharon was stalking a pair of shoes there.

Michael said...

We want to know: where you plan on getting a fox pelt to trade for your stripey wool blanket? Have you taken up taxidermy? However it is pretty cool that you can go shopping at the Hudson Bay Company. Do they give you glass beads as change?

Ynn said...

After reading Michael's comment, I am stuck with a picture in my mind of you, dressed like Jeremiah Johnson wearing a coonskin hat (although Jeremiah Johnsons hat was a wolverine because ice won't stick to wolverine fur-true!) following your traplines through the snow covered forest.

Michael said...

...with pink champaign and an open (mostly full) jar of salsa.

DPLK said...

I'll totally do the taxidermy for you if you need a pelt to trade for your wool blanket.

Not so good at the capturing or shooting live animals part, though. May have to recruit your friends who qualified for Olympic shooting from back home.

Jessica said...

Maybe if I write to Sarah Palin, she'll shoot something for me to trade for some nice glass beads, or maybe an iron cooking pot.