TL;DR/The Short Version:
One of the few department stores…read moreleft in Montreal. I like the pretty displays and the large selection of products.
The Long Version:
Full Disclosure: my rating is heavily influenced by nostalgia. I love The Bay (called La Baie in the province of Quebec). It's a Canadian department store. To be accurate, it was called The Bay from 1965-2013 (La Baie in Quebec 1972-2013). In 2013 they rebranded to Hudson's Bay/Baie d'Hudson, which I suppose brings it back to the original name of it's first store in 1881 (in Winnipeg, not this one in Montreal) which had the same name as its parent company: The Hudson's Bay Company. However, in my heart it will always be The Bay.
When they rebranded, they dropped the stylized B and the yellow script for a more block letter logo in black. The stylized B in yellow script is the logo of The Bay from my childhood, so I'm so happy that this La Baie location in downtown Montreal has retained it.
This location has a Coach store inside it and was where I bought my first Coach bag so many moons ago (my first bag that cost more than $30, lol).
This location has also been the site of FAO Schwartz pop-up stores, where Canadians can get items from the legendary American toy store.
Growing up there were so many department stores, but the likes of Eaton's and Simpsons have long closed. So I'm happy that The Bay is still around.
Their regular prices are quite high, but they often have sales where their items are marked down. Those of a certain vintage will remember "The Bay Scratch and Save Days" where they gave out scratch cards (like the scratch lottery cards, lol) and you could get 10%-50% off your purchase.
If you are sensitive to scents, you may want to skip their fragrances section on the main floor. Walking through is very much like those typical scenes in movies of department stores where beauty counter workers spray perfume on customers, although they don't spray it directly on you like in the movies, they spray strips of paper and give them customers. But that first floor is olfactory overload! Lol.
The flagship Bay store in Toronto is my favourite, but this location in Montreal comes in second :)
Review #14 (2025)