I worked at the Bay years ago, and still remember the magic and thrill of the department store

When I worked at the Bay in downtown Vancouver in the 1980s, there was an old piece of lore about a woman who spent her days waiting just inside the doors of the store at the Georgia Street entrance, closest to Granville.She wore a coat, even in summer. If the store was open, that’s where you’d find her. Her son had gone off to fight in the Second World War and hadn’t come home. She was certain he was alive and that, one day, he’d return. And when he did, he’d do what every Vancouverite did: He’d go shopping at the Hudson’s Bay. And she’d be there, waiting.