Vancouver Hudson's Bay store on Granville suffering months-long maintenance issues

Editor’s note: The Bay clarified an earlier statement and it has been updated in this piece.

If you are shopping along Granville Street in downtown Vancouver this weekend, you will want to bring a comfortable pair of shoes. One popular retail store has been dealing with ongoing issues with access to its floors.

The Bay on Granville in March, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Currently, several of the elevators and escalators at the Hudson’s Bay store are out of service, and they have been for a long time.

Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive

The six-storey building and the company’s flagship department store is still open, but you’ll have to take the stairs if you want to shop on the higher floors.

Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive

“The repair process is underway. We are working with our service partner to secure parts and complete maintenance as soon as possible,” Tiffany Bourré, VP of Hudon’s Bay corporate communications, told Daily Hive.

Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive

Many reported issues with the elevators and escalators as early as December 2023, and when Daily Hive checked it out last month, we also noticed those who needed to use an escalator would be out of luck.

Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive

Some shoppers have complained about the inconvenience, and we’ve asked the store to provide information on what those who use a wheelchair or have other mobility needs are supposed to do while the problem persists. We didn’t receive a response to that question in time for publication.

The Bay says that not all the elevators and escalators are broken.

The building is a heritage property and was built in four different sections. The large part you see today was completed in 1927, but there have been talks of revitalizing it while still keeping its historic appearance.

Artistic rendering of the redevelopment of Hudson’s Bay’s Vancouver flagship store at 674 Granville Street. (Perkins & Will/Streetworks Development/Hudson’s Bay Company)

The proposal, which hasn’t been reviewed and is still very much in the pre-planning stages, would keep the exterior’s iconic cream terra cotta facade and Corinthian columns, but the structure would be restored and undergo seismic upgrading. Additionally, the 12-storey proposal would see the building revamped into a mixed commercial and residential property.

With files from Kenneth Chan