[Tyler19944]

Originally Posted by Draftsman

It's a shame that this store has gone so far downhill. Regina's original Bay store on 12th Avenue & Hamilton (now Century Plaza) was a beautiful store. It was a nice, modern department store, especially when compared to the old Simpsons Department store on 11th & Hamilton. It was like comparing apples to oranges with the dumpy Eaton's store on 7th Avenue & Hamilton. When Eaton's built their new store at the Cornwall Centre, it was the nicest department store in Regina (by far). Unfortunately, by the time Eaton's had closed that store needed renovations, of which the Bay did very little in my opinion, before moving in. If any of you are old enough to remember the Eaton's store downtown, it occupied all three floors above ground. At the top of the escalators on the third floor was a large skylight surrounded by angled mirrors that let natural light into the store and down the escalators. At Christmastime, they would put their Christmas department (trees and decorations, etc) around one side of the 3rd floor escalators, of which they always had several and all were very nicely decorated. Closing off the third floor and turning it into call centre space (StarTek and eHealth) which really did nothing for the store. I personally feel that they should have kept the upper three floors and turned the basement into offices. You don't need windows in a call centre as you are too busy on the phones to look around (I have worked in two call centres - not the two mentioned above). I understand that the receiving dock for the Bay is in the basement, but I am sure they could have come up with a design that would have satisfied both a call centre and receiving/storage.
I thought that when Sears closed its doors that it would be a better location for the Bay. They would have needed to redo the store (HVAC/escalators for example) but the smaller space would have been better for their store, and to be honest, I think the old Sears store was a better location, being off the food court, and being attached to the Delta Hotel and the casino. I know they get a lot of foot traffic from the SGI tower but that is only Monday to Friday.

Anyway, I hope they don't close the Bay, our last old-style department store.

Very interesting tidbits! I was unaware of the past Bay store at Century Plaza. Your description goes to show what Hudsons Bay could be if it were to be invested in. I think Hudsons Bay made an error when they decided to expand their store count, when in reality they should have focused inward on the current portfolio of stores, rather than let them be neglected. Heres hoping it weathers the storm and comes out with a deserved renovation!