The Bay
's rue Sainte-Catherine, with skyscraper in the background The Bay is a chain of 100 fashion department stores that operate across Canada.
"The Bay" is short for "The Hudson's Bay Company". In Quebec and Ottawa, the chain is known as la Baie, short for "la Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson".
The stores are full-line department stores, with a focus on apparel, accessories, and home goods. Most price points are mid- to upper-mid; however there is an assortment of everyday low price merchandise. The Bay can be compared to as slightly more up-market than Sears Canada department stores. The Bay is a division of the Hudson's Bay Company, Canada's largest department store retailer and oldest corporation.
In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop selling fur in response to widespread public sentiment opposing killing animals for this purpose. However, in 1997 they reopened their fur salons. Animal rights groups such as Freedom for Animals have been campaigning to get the Bay to once again stop selling fur.
