David Spencer Ltd. (commonly known as ''Spencer's'') operated a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

chain in the province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Founded in the city of Victoria in 1873 by David W. Spencer, the first store, located on Government Street, consisted of a dry goods shop operating under the name "Spencer and Denny". The store prospered and expanded, and a second store was opened in 1890 in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

. The

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

store, which opened in 1907, was so successful that it soon expanded to occupy almost an entire city block. Other stores later opened in

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( ) is a city of about 100,000 people and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located about east of the City of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. The enumerated population is 93,203 in the city and 113,767 in the gr ...

and

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

. For a number of years, Spencer's was a rival to the

Woodward's Woodward's Stores Ltd. was a department store chain that operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, for 101 years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company. History Charles Woodward established the first Woodward store at the corner o ...

department store, another British Columbia-based chain. In 1948, however, Spencer's was acquired by the much larger

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's g ...

department store chain, which had stores across Canada. The nine Spencer's stores in the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

and

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

were converted into Eaton's stores. The second Spencer's store in downtown Victoria, at 1150 Douglas Street (which replaced the original Government Street store), operated as an Eaton's store until the late 1980s, when it was demolished to make way for the Victoria Eaton Centre shopping mall (now called the Bay Centre). Spencer's downtown Vancouver store, on Hastings Street, operated as an Eaton's store until 1973, when Eaton's opened its new Vancouver flagship store in the newly constructed

Pacific Centre Pacific Centre (officially CF Pacific Centre since 2015) is a shopping mall located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is owned by Cadillac Fairview, the Ontario Pension Board, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and is man ...

shopping mall. Unlike its Victoria cousin, however, the former Spencer's store was not demolished; it was later occupied by Simpsons-Sears, and today it serves as the downtown "Harbour Centre" campus of

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. The building itself is currently called the Harbour Centre. The last operating vestiges of the former Spencer's chain disappeared with the demise of the Eaton's chain in 1999.

External links

Current view of Spencer Building in Vancouver (in foreground of photo)
* ttp://www.celtic-connection.com/2006/features/feat2006_05_03_hist.html Welsh Immigrant Who Built a Department Store Chainat the Celtic Connection

References

{{Eaton's Defunct retail companies of Canada Department stores of Canada Eaton's Economic history of Canada History of Vancouver Buildings and structures in Vancouver Companies based in Victoria, British Columbia