page_title: Simpsons (department store)
section_title: Acquisition by the Hudson's Bay Company
hierarchical_section_title: Simpsons (department store) / History / Acquisition by the Hudson's Bay Company
caption_attribution_description: English: Robert Simpson Company, Queen Street facade.
context_page_description: The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpsons and sometimes as Simpson in Quebec, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson.
  In 1952 Simpson's started a 50-50 joint venture in Canada named Simpsons-Sears Limited with Sears, Roebuck, the American retailer. Simpsons-Sears stores remained distinct from the Simpson's stores and the parent companies' agreement included language to keep them from competing too directly with each other.
  The Hudson's Bay Company purchased the Simpsons-branded stores in 1978, but they were later converted to The Bay stores by the early 1990s. As part of the 1978 agreement, U.S.-based Sears acquired full ownership of Simpsons-Sears Limited.
context_section_description: In 1978, the Hudson's Bay Company acquired Simpsons and federal competition law required the partnership to terminate, thus Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears could no longer share facilities. Sears stores continued to carry the Simpsons-Sears name on signage and the name remained in use both informally and as its business name well into the 1980s. Simpsons-Sears officially changed its name to Sears Canada in 1984.
  In the 1980s, the Hudson's Bay Company converted three Simpsons stores into Bay stores, and rebranded one Bay store to Simpsons. It closed the Simpsons flagship store in Ottawa in 1983.
  In 1984, Simpsons terminated 1631 employees in response to a 25% decrease in sales over the last five years. The decision was taken within Simpsons and did not affect the HBC's  other two chains, The Bay and Zellers, which both had increased sales.
  In 1989, the flagship Simpsons store in downtown Toronto completed a $30 million facelift with a relaunch known as the Miracle on Queen Street. Its cosmetics area was reputed to be the largest in the world and the basement featured a gourmet food hall similar to Macy's in Herald Square in New York City or Harrods in London.  The St. Regis Room expanded and upscale shops such as Alfred Dunhill of London opened boutiques in the store.
  The flagship store's acquisition of a large quantity of toy robots was a major plot point in the movie Short Circuit 2.
caption: The Bay Queen Street, formerly Simpson's flagship store in Toronto, now operated by Hudson's Bay.
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