This isn’t exactly a travel story, but it is significant from a Canadian history and culture perspective.

Billionaire Jerry Zucker who purchased the HBC (Hudson’s Bay Company) back in 2006, passed away yesterday in South carolina, leaving his wife Anita Zucker in control of the historic Canadian retailer.

Speculation will abound in the coming weeks about the fate moving forward of HBC, rumours on the street say that she will maintain the status quo for the time being, but a sale of the company (perhaps back into Canadian hands?) may be in the offing.

You can read the entire article from the Toronto Globe and Mail here.

And here is an abbreviated history of the Hudson’s Bay Company:

Rich in history

Long before there was a Canada, a pair of resourceful Frenchmen named Radisson and des Groseilliers discovered a wealth of fur in the interior of the continent and set off a chain of events that led to the formation of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

BEGINNINGS

1670

King Charles II grants the initial investors – The Governor and company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay – a royal charter allowing them a monopoly on trading in the Hudson Bay basin. The company concentrates on the fur trade for the first 200 years of its existence.

1672

The company’s first public sale of furs – 27 lots – is held at Garraway’s Coffee House, London.

1780

Thomas Empson, a weaver based in Witney, Oxfordshire, is contracted to make the first point blankets.

1821

HBC merges with its main rival, the North West Company, based in Montreal, and is granted a 21-year monopoly. HBC controls three million square miles of land (7.77 million sq. km) and operates 173 trading posts.

1869

HBC returns sovereignty of Rupert’s Land back to the Crown, which then transfers it to Canada. HBC receives a cash settlement of £300,000 and considerable land concessions.

THE RISE OF RETAIL

1907

HBC establishes the Wholesale Department to sell liquor, tobacco, coffee, tea, confectionery and blankets.

1913

HBC opens new modern department stores in Calgary and Edmonton, the first of six downtown stores planned.

1921

HBC enters into an agreement with Imperial Oil Co. to exploit HBC mineral rights on all lands sold since 1910 in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

1932

The company introduces airplanes to deliver goods to northern Canada.

GROWTH THROUGH ACQUISITION

1960

HBC arrives in Eastern Canada through the acquisition of Montreal-based Henry Morgan & Co. Ltd.’s 10-store chain.

1978

Takeover of the Zellers and Fields discount chains.

1990

Zellers purchases the Towers group of stores.

1993

HBC takes over Woodward’s department stores in B.C. and Alberta.

1998

Zellers acquires Kmart Canada.

2005

HBC becomes the target of an unsolicited takeover bid by U.S. businessman Jerry Zucker, who values the company at just over $1-billion.

Will it return to Canadian hands?