How Private Equity Failed North America’s Oldest Retailer

Even before Canada or the United States existed, one intrepid retail company was trading in the wilderness of North America. Founded in 1670, The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest joint-stock company in the English-speaking world and largely responsible for pioneering both the North American fur trade and what would become, hundreds of years later, the British colony of Canada.

By the 20th century Hudson’s Bay was a staple in almost every downtown Canadian shopping district and suburban…