Fields (department store)
- For the now-defunct chain of department stores in the Midwestern United States, see Marshall Field's
Fields is a brand of Canadian discount stores owned by Hudson's Bay Company, with 165 locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon, and Northwest Territories.
History
The first Fields store was established in Vancouver in 1950 by the chain's founder, Joseph Segal. From there, Fields grew to eight stores by the time it opened a store at Capilano Mall in North Vancouver in 1968, continuing to expand across British Columbia into the 1970s with the acquisitions of several regional retailers (including several small HBC stores in smaller towns). In 1972, Fields purchased a subsidiary chain of hardware stores called Marshall Wells, and after further expansion into Alberta and Saskatchewan, it acquired majority ownership of the Zellers chain in 1976. Zellers would reverse the takeover a few months later and make Fields and Marshall Wells into its subsidiaries, all of which were partly acquired by HBC in 1978, and fully owned by 1981. Marshall Wells was sold by HBC in 1985, and Fields was moved from a Zellers subsidiary into a full division of HBC in 1988.
Current operations
In contrast with the much larger Zellers stores, the Fields division is intended to be a small format, extreme value retail chain for rural and urban Canadian communities. Hudson's Bay Company announced an aggressive expansion strategy for Fields, adding 53 new stores in 2006-2007, with another 35 locations planned for 2008. Over the next several years, HBC planned on opening around 800 new stores across Canada. New locations feature the successful Field's "Mini Mart" concept, a new format that will also be rolled out to existing stores. Fields has changed plans for Ontario. Just before Christmas 2011 it was announced that most stores in Ontario would be closing.
See also
External links