zang
Senior Member
HBC's marketing has obviously worked. For a long time, "The Bay" was the anchor for a lot of mediocre, suburban malls like the once-and-potentially-future-failing-Cloverdale. In the 80's, their image was a step above Zellers and K-Mart (when it was still around), but wasn't considered high end. They were a middling fashion and housewares department store like Sears, Eatons, Woodward's, Simpsons or JC Penney. One doesn't even have to get out of the city to have the gloss removed from their eyes. Visit the why-the-hell-hasn't-it-been-renovated-yet 44 Bloor East location, especially around floors 2-3, where frayed industrial carpeting, cracked plaster and fluorescent tube lights are king.
That's not to say they don't sell great products, just that the sense of luxury is intentionally manufactured and plastered over what once was. They want to look like Holt Renfrew or Canada's equivalent to Nordstrom's, but also don't want to alienate all of Canada with their pricing.
In actuality, the fact that they are wanting to surround themselves by what people consider their competition is brilliance. As mentioned, it makes them appear to be a steal even though the stores themselves don't look cheap at all.
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