Caption: "Hudson's Bay Company - Incorporated 2nd May 1670" plaques outside the flagship downtown Toronto store proudly proclaim. Two TTC ALRV streetcars - 4216 loading eastbound and 4234 travelling westbound - pass outside "The Bay" on busy Queen Street near Yonge in the month leading up to Christmas. The storefront awnings are already decked out in faux pine tree leaves and red Christmas lights, and some of the Christmas displays in the storefront windows along Queen and Yonge were already up for passerbys to window-shop and admire. Even passing through the PATH system to get to the Eaton Centre (and Ryerson beyond), the photographer always passed through The Bay's lower floor section set up with the usual seasonal displays. If you're of an age, even a younger age, department stores and seasonal events were somewhat synonymous.

With the presence of HBC as as retailing giant in the Canadian retail landscape for literally centuries, it was hard to imagine it going away. But the online shopping trend, some questionable management, and a pandemic in the next decade seemed to have taken their toll. The Queen Street store (originally opened for Simpsons, who were later acquired by HBC) would be one of the few HBC locations to survive its bankruptcy liquidation in March 2025, but for how long is another matter. It all makes the 32-year ALRV era seem like just a blip in time compared to being Canada's oldest company, that once saw shoppers taking horse-drawn carriages and buggies into town to do their shopping (or snow sleds pulled by teams of huskies, if you were visiting a northern outpost to get some warm furs for the winter).