10 Vancouver Stores We’d Give Anything to Shop at Again (Woodward’s, Eaton’s, Army & Navy)
Woodward’s anchored one end of old downtown with the first self-serve food floor on the continent. Spencer’s and the Bay filled in the rest, and Eaton’s arrived in 1948 when it bought Spencer’s.
Most of those stores are gone now. Woodward’s went bankrupt in 1993. Eaton’s followed in 1999. Army & Navy closed in 2020 after 101 years, and towers for its site were approved in February 2026. Hudson’s Bay, downtown longer than anyone, shut its Granville and Georgia flagship in June 2025.
This is a guide to what each store was, why it mattered, how it ended and what you can still walk up to today. It runs from the Hastings department stores to the Virgin and HMV megastore on Robson and the toy store under the BowMac sign on West Broadway.
10. Virgin Megastore, then HMV (Robson & Burrard)
Where: 750 Burrard Street / 969 Robson Street, Downtown Vancouver
When: Virgin 1996 to 2005; HMV 2005 to 2012
Cost: Free to view from the street
Getting there: Near Burrard Station
The 1957 building on the northeast corner of Robson and Burrard started life as the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The library moved to Library Square in 1995. The building’s next job was very different.
From 1996 it held Virgin’s only Canadian Megastore. It ran over three levels and 40,000 square feet, roughly 3,700 square metres. It was Virgin’s sole Canadian store.
Virgin left in 2005 and HMV took over. HMV’s three-storey downtown store closed in January 2012.
The corner is near Burrard Station.
9. Woodward’s at Park Royal (West Vancouver)
Where: Park Royal North, West Vancouver
When: Opened fall 1950; the store later became a Hudson’s Bay, which closed in June 2025
Cost: Free (operating mall)
Getting there: Check the Park Royal site for directions
Woodward’s helped build Park Royal. The first phase held a Woodward’s department store, a Woodward’s food store and 25 other stores and services. It opened in the fall of 1950, and the mall bills itself as Canada’s first enclosed shopping centre, though its own history says the north mall was converted from an open-air strip to an enclosed centre in 1969.
After Woodward’s collapsed in 1993, the store became a Hudson’s Bay. Hudson’s Bay then ceased operations in June 2025, so the space has now outlived two department stores.
The mall is still operating and free to walk through. Check the mall directory before you go if you want to see what fills the old Woodward’s and Bay space, because the current tenant hasn’t been confirmed.
8. Spencer’s, later Eaton’s and Sears (515 W Hastings)
Where: 515 West Hastings Street, between Seymour and Richards
When: Flagship opened 1926 (the surviving section dates from 1928); Eaton’s from 1948; Sears in the 1970s and 1980s; SFU campus since 1989
Cost: Free to view
Getting there: Steps from Waterfront Station
David Spencer Ltd. opened a nine-storey flagship here in December 1926, and the section that survives was built in 1928. The founding family ran it for years before selling to Eaton’s in 1948, and it carried the Eaton’s name after that.
In 1973 the older portions came down to make room for a mall, an office tower and an observation deck. Only the 1928 section survived. It was reworked into a Sears, which ran through the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1989 the building became a university campus, now SFU Harbour Centre. It sits on West Hastings between Seymour and Richards, steps from Waterfront Station. Head inside to find the Spencer’s plaque on the campus.
7. Future Shop (Vancouver and Burnaby)
Where: First store in Vancouver; headquarters in Burnaby
When: 1982 to 2015
Cost: n/a
Getting there: No single site to visit
Future Shop was a Vancouver story. The first store opened here in 1982. Within about a decade it was the largest electronics retailer in the country.
Best Buy bought the chain in 2001 and ran both names side by side. On March 28, 2015, it announced that Future Shop would cease to exist, effective immediately.
There’s no single landmark to visit. Future Shop’s headquarters were in Burnaby, and Best Buy’s still are. If an electronics store near you feels familiar, there’s a reason: many former Future Shops reopened as Best Buys.
6. Toys "R" Us under the BowMac sign (West Broadway, Fairview)
Where: 1154 West Broadway, Fairview, Vancouver
When: Toys "R" Us 1997 to 2025; FreshCo opening date not announced
Cost: Free to view the sign
Getting there: West Broadway at Alder Street
The store mattered, but the sign is the reason people still talk about this corner. The BowMac sign stands 80 feet tall, about 24 metres. It was built in 1958 for the Bowell-McLean car dealership. It was once the tallest structure outside downtown Vancouver and briefly held the title of largest freestanding sign in North America.
Toys “R” Us signed a 20-year lease on the property in 1997. Generations of kids got dragged past the sign on the way in. The store closed in 2025 as that lease, with its renewals, ran out.
Sobeys plans a FreshCo for the site, and the plan fully retains the heritage BowMac sign. An opening date for FreshCo hasn’t been confirmed.
The address is 1154 West Broadway, at Alder Street. The plan removes the Toys “R” Us letters but keeps the steel mesh over the BowMac sign, painting it neon green and adding FRESHCO letters on top.
5. Zellers (Oakridge and across Metro Vancouver)
Where: Across Metro Vancouver, including Oakridge
When: Most Metro Vancouver stores closed 2012 to 2013; the last, in Surrey, in 2014
Cost: n/a
Getting there: No single site to visit
Zellers was the everyday store in malls across Metro Vancouver. At Oakridge, the old Woodward’s location, HBC divided the store to run a separate Hudson’s Bay and a separate Zellers under one roof.
In January 2011, HBC agreed to sell up to 220 Zellers leases to Target. In July 2012 it announced that the 64 stores it had kept would also close by March 31, 2013. Most local stores went dark between 2012 and 2013, and the last one in Western Canada, at Semiahmoo in Surrey, closed in September 2014.
The name has refused to die. Zellers came back in 2023 as a shop-in-shop inside Hudson’s Bay stores before HBC closed in 2025, and a new owner, Les Ailes de la Mode, relaunched it again with stores in Edmonton (October 2025) and Toronto (June 2026). There’s no Metro Vancouver site to visit now.
4. Hudson’s Bay downtown flagship (Granville & Georgia)
Where: 674 Granville Street, Downtown Vancouver
When: Downtown from 1887; Granville and Georgia store closed June 2025
Cost: Exterior only (building closed)
Getting there: Granville SkyTrain station
No store on this list stayed downtown longer. Hudson’s Bay opened in Gastown in 1887 and moved to Granville and Georgia in 1893. That’s 138 years downtown.
The building you see now went up in stages, reaching its present form by 1927. It’s cream terra cotta with Corinthian columns. Heritage Vancouver counts it among the city’s most significant heritage structures.
The Hudson’s Bay Company filed for creditor protection and closed the store in June 2025. Vancouver-based Onni Group bought the building in a court-approved deal that closed in late June 2026. Onni hasn’t disclosed its plans.
The building is closed, so this one is exterior only. The facade and columns are the photo to get, and any redevelopment will have to deal with that heritage-listed exterior.
3. Army & Navy (West Cordova Street, Gastown)
Where: 8-36 West Cordova Street, on the Gastown edge of the Downtown Eastside
When: Opened 1919; the Vancouver store closed in 2020 after 101 years
Cost: Free to look at the heritage building from the street
Getting there: A short walk from Waterfront Station
Army & Navy opened in 1919, and Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Places That Matter calls it the first Canadian discount department store and the oldest surviving retailer in Gastown. It was a family-run business for about a century.
The store’s home, the Dunn-Miller Block at 8-36 West Cordova, went up in 1889, and Army & Navy took it over in 1948. The City of Vancouver designates it a protected heritage property. Its legendary shoe sale, first held in 1949, was a yearly event.
The chain announced in 2020 that it was closing after 101 years, and the Vancouver store had already shut by the time the final sales ran at its New Westminster and Calgary stores. There’s nothing to buy now. The building has housed a shelter since 2022, and Council approved a redevelopment of the block in February 2026, so look from the street.
2. Eaton’s at Pacific Centre (Granville & Georgia)
Where: 725 Granville Street, Downtown Vancouver
When: Eaton’s 1973 to 1999; new tenants planned from spring 2027
Cost: Free (operating mall)
Getting there: Granville or Vancouver City Centre SkyTrain stations
Eaton’s opened at 725 Granville in 1973. The seven-storey building was designed by Argentine American architect Cesar Pelli. It was a windowless box clad in large white marble panels. Eaton’s filled every floor until its bankruptcy in 1999.
The building has struggled to hold a tenant since. Sears took over shortly after Eaton’s closed and stayed until 2012. Nordstrom arrived in 2015 and pulled out in 2023. That made it the third time a major retailer left the department-store space empty.
The space is now being split up. Uniqlo plans a flagship for spring 2027. Simons is set to span three floors and open in fall 2027.
Granville and Vancouver City Centre SkyTrain stations both serve Pacific Centre. For a sense of how much has changed, stand on Robson Square with an old photo of the marble box and compare it with the rebuilt glass exterior.
1. Woodward’s (Hastings & Abbott, Gastown edge)
Where: 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
When: Hastings store closed 1993; complex completed 2010 and open to walk past any time
Cost: Free to view from the street
Getting there: Ten-minute walk from Waterfront Station
Charles Woodward bought a lot at Hastings and Abbott, swamp the city drained for him, and built a four-storey department store there. It was expanded repeatedly over the decades. Downstairs was the Food Floor, the first self-serve food floor on the continent. Up top, the red W sat on a replica of the Eiffel Tower and served as a landmark on the skyline.
People remember the Christmas windows. They also remember $1.49 Day, held on the first Tuesday of the month, when a range of items all sold for $1.49. The store closed in 1993 after the company went bankrupt. All told, the company’s run lasted 101 years, from 1892 to 1993.
The site was redeveloped, and the new Woodward’s complex was finished in 2010. SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts moved into the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in January that year. The address is 149 West Hastings. It’s a ten-minute walk from Waterfront Station.
Look up. The original W came down before demolition. A replica was installed on January 9, 2010, lit with energy-saving LEDs. It shows up best after dark. This end of Hastings is part of the Downtown Eastside, a residential neighbourhood, so be respectful with your camera.
| Tenant | Years |
|---|---|
| Eaton’s | 1973–1999 |
| Sears Canada | c. 2000/2002–2012 |
| Nordstrom | 2015–2023 |
| Uniqlo / Simons | planned 2027 |
| Year | Store |
|---|---|
| 1993 | Woodward’s |
| 1999 | Eaton’s |
| 2005 | Virgin Megastore |
| 2012 | HMV Robson; Sears at Pacific Centre |
| 2013 | Most Zellers stores (the last local one closed in 2014) |
| 2015 | Future Shop |
| 2020 | Army & Navy |
| 2023 | Nordstrom |
| 2025 | Hudson’s Bay; Toys “R” Us on Broadway |
Walk Hastings: Woodward’s, Army & Navy, Spencer’s
All three sit on or just off West Hastings, so you can see them in one walk. Start at Waterfront Station. Army & Navy’s old building is at 8-36 West Cordova, and Woodward’s at 149 West Hastings is a ten-minute walk. Spencer’s, now SFU Harbour Centre, is at 515 West Hastings between Seymour and Richards.
The east end of the route is in the Downtown Eastside, a residential neighbourhood. People live here. Be respectful, especially when you take photos.
Granville and Georgia: two department stores, one corner
The empty Hudson’s Bay building and the former Eaton’s and Nordstrom building face each other across the intersection. The old Eaton’s building is part of Pacific Centre, and Granville and Vancouver City Centre stations are both close by. The Bay building is closed, and its underground entrance from Granville Station closed with it.
Relics you can still see
- The replica Woodward’s W, lit in LED over Hastings. Go after dark for the full effect.
- The 1928 Spencer’s building at 515 W Hastings, now SFU Harbour Centre.
- The old Virgin and HMV building at Robson and Burrard, which was the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Branch until 1995.
- The BowMac sign on West Broadway, which the FreshCo plan would keep.
What’s coming next
- Uniqlo is planned for the old Eaton’s building in spring 2027, with Simons following in fall 2027.
- Onni Group bought the Bay building in June 2026 and hasn’t disclosed its plans.
- The 20-storey rental-and-hotel tower proposed for 8-36 W Cordova, on the old Army & Navy block, was approved by Council on February 10, 2026.
- FreshCo is planned under the BowMac sign, with no confirmed opening date.
Getting around
SkyTrain covers almost everything downtown. Use Waterfront for the Hastings sites, Granville or Vancouver City Centre for Granville and Georgia, and Burrard for the Robson corner. The Broadway sign and Park Royal on the Shore sit outside the downtown walk, so plan those as separate trips.
| Store | Address | What’s there now | Nearest SkyTrain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodward’s | 149 W Hastings | Woodward’s complex and SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts | Waterfront (ten-minute walk) |
| Spencer’s / Eaton’s / Sears | 515 W Hastings | SFU Harbour Centre | Waterfront |
| Hudson’s Bay | 674 Granville | Closed; bought by Onni Group, plans not disclosed | Granville |
| Eaton’s / Sears / Nordstrom | 725 Granville | Being split for Uniqlo and Simons | Granville or Vancouver City Centre |
| Virgin / HMV | 750 Burrard / 969 Robson | Check before you go | Burrard |
| Toys "R" Us | 1154 W Broadway | FreshCo planned; BowMac sign kept | Not listed |
| Woodward’s / the Bay | Park Royal North, West Vancouver | Check before you go | Not listed |
You can’t buy anything at most of these addresses now. The buildings still tell the story, though. The W still glows over Hastings, the Bay’s terra cotta still faces Georgia and the BowMac sign is staying put. Take an afternoon, start at Waterfront and see how much of old Vancouver retail is still standing if you know where to look.
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Photo credits
- Army and Navy, Langley.jpg by Zindra Lord, CC BY 4.0 (cropped, resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Woodward’s building demolition Vancouver 2006.jpg by ּα from Vienna, Austria, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Woodwards Building Vancouver.JPG by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Woodward’s Building Vancouver 04.JPG by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- New Woodward’s Building Vancouver 2009.jpg by wisley, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Woodward’s Building Sign Hastings St. Vancouver.jpg by Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Park Royal North Entrance.jpg by Bsiloveyou, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Nordstrom Pacific Centre exterior.jpg by GoToVan, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Hastings Street west of Homer Street observation car.jpg by Timms, Philip T., Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Thebay-downtownvancouver.jpg by Arnold C, Attribution (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Vancouver Library Burrard Street.jpg by Canadian2006, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Downtown Montreal Best Buy With Future Shop Signage & ’06-’08 Honda Civic Sedan.jpg by Bull-Doser, Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Zellers in Hudson’s Bay – Cambridge, ON.jpg by JFVoll, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- BC99nBC7wRoadSigns-BroadwayYVR (35907217136).jpg by formulanone from Huntsville, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
