“W” stands for Woodwards.

 

“$1.49 day, Woodwards. $1.49 day, Tuesday!”

That ditty, played once a month on the radio, was a familiar refrain to anyone living in Vancouver up until the late ’70s.  Woodwards Department store was a favorite place to shop. People flocked to the big red-brick building at the corner of Abbott and Hastings Street one Tuesday a month to take advantage of the great bargains offered on Woodward’s  monthly $1.49 day sales.  I used to go there myself even when I was a kid, and later when I had kids of my own.  Especially at Christmas time.  Their toyland and Woodward’s Christmas window decor was  renown. (You can still see the displays during December at the Canada Place Convention Centre.)

The Woodward’s building, built in 1903 by Charles Woodward, was a heritage icon in Vancouver for many years.  Charles Woodward pioneered the concept of on-stop shopping.  The store included a food floor and was, at the time,North America’s largest supermarket selling household items, men,women and children’s fashions, groceries, and providing many other services.  The store was so popular that over the years it expanded, occupying 2/3 of a city block.  the landmark “W” was installed on the roof in 1944 set on a 25 meter replica of the Eiffel Tower, replacing the searchlights that had been placed there as a beacon during WW2. That bright red “W” could be seen for miles.

As more malls and large department stores, such as the Pacific Centre and The Bay and Sears, began to flourish downtown, business on west Hastings street began to decline.  The Woodward”s food floor was sold to Safeway in the 1980’s and by 1993 Woodwards went bankrupt and closed its doors.  The building was bought for private housing, but there wre many protests by the neighbourhood who wanted it incororated into social housing.  Eventually it was decided that the BC Provincial Government would fund some social housing, but the firm who owned it, Fama Holdings, couldn’t come to an agreement on this, so the project died and the building stood vacant until the Province bought it from Fama.  In 2002 it was occupied by squatters demanding that it be developed into social housing. A year later, the City of Vancouver, urged by Councillor Jim Green, purchased the building for redevelopment.  And three years later all but the oldest original (1903-08) building was demolished.

Now, out of the rubble has risen a magnificent tower, a $400 million project that  includes 536 market housing units, 125 single non-market housing unites, 75 afforable family housing units, Nester’s Food Store, London Drugs, TD and Canada Trust,  the National Film Board, civic offices, a daycare, public atrium and plaza as well as a new addition to Simon Fraser University downtown campus, including  The Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre.

In 2008, Vancouver artist Stan Douglas completed a 30 x 50 image on glass depicting the famous Gastown ‘Pot” riots.  This mural,  titled “Abbott & Cordova, Aug 7, 1971″ is the central focus of the atrium.

On Friday,Jan. 15, I was among the enthusiastic crowds who gathered in the Woodwards plaza where Jim Green officially opened the Woodwards development and the big red “W” was lit up on the roof.  Bands played, and there were cakes to celebrate this grand event.  6,000 LED lights made to look like the old fashioned light bulbs of the past shine out over the city once again, beckoning shoppers to Woodward’s.  And in Nestor’s, which says it will revive the popular $1.49 sales, you can still buy Woodward’s brand peanut butter, two for $5.00.  What a bargain!

PHOTOS by W. Ruth Kozak

1 places are mentioned in this post!

1. SFU Woodward's

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