Make The Bay Stripes Affordable Again
By Dan Brown I have a brilliant idea. Humble, right? But bear with me. It’s my belief Canadian Tire has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to honour Canadian culture while making an honest buck at the same time. The folks who run Canadian Tire can do so by making the Bay stripes affordable again. Let me explain. You may have heard how the iconic hardware chain recently bought the intellectual property of another retailer, the now-defunct Hudson’s Bay Company – or the Bay, as it was known to my generation of Canadians. Maybe you read about the Bay going out of business, or even went to one of their stores, like the location in Masonville Place, in search of last-minute bargains. The Bay has been imploding in public for the last few months, but my point here isn’t to heap scorn on the bosses for running the venerable department-store firm into the ground. I’d rather focus on the future. For the reported low price of $30 million, Canadian Tire now has the rights to the Bay’s intellectual property, including its iconic green, red, yellow and indigo stripes. If you’re of a certain age, like I am, you would recognize the pattern instantly. They’ve appeared on all kinds of Bay wares, most famously its blankets – the history of which predates Canada itself – but also coats, mittens, book bags, and other items such as coffee mugs. In a way, the Bay’s iconic stripes are even more Canadian than the maple leaf. But in the last few years, the Bay has had a tough row to hoe. They were losing ground to internet retailers, and instead of going populist – like, say, Walmart – they purposely went upscale, alienating many customers, including yours truly. Before the bankruptcy sale, I hadn’t been to a Bay store since about 2009. I’m not rich enough to shop there on the regular for stuff like clothes. Say what you will, but I can’t justify spending $100 or more on a shirt I can get at Winners for $20 or something similar at Goodwill for less than $10. The Bay tried to capture affluent shoppers, and in the deal they priced items with the stripes on them out of the reach of most of us. They gambled by going upmarket, offering merch the average Canadian couldn’t afford, and the result is a firm that was founded in 1670 has finally reached the end of the road. Here’s where Canadian Tire comes in. The tire retailer can breathe new life into the stripes by offering items that aren’t overpriced. Besides, expensive stripes would look out of place in Canadian Tire stores since it’s not that kind of place. Everyday people still shop at Canadian Tire. Canadian Tire is all about utility, so pricey, upscale merch wouldn’t make sense on their shelves. This is the company whose mascot is Sandy McTire – the “flinty” Scot always looking for a deal. Why do I care? Because in a very real sense, the Hudson’s Bay stripes belong to every Canadian. I’m not saying we’re owed cheap deals, but I am urging Canadian Tire to heed the example of the Bay and not emulate it. The Bay targeted the Richie Riches in this country, and where did it get them? That strategy is surely one of the reasons contributing to their demise. Canadian Tire has defied the odds by thriving in the age of online shopping. If the brain trust that runs Canadian Tire stores is smart, they’ll find a way to sell us nostalgia at a price point we can all afford. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
