Woodwards

ADDRESS: 111 W Hastings St, Vancouver BC

NEIGHBOURHOOD: Downtown

TYPE: Mixed Use

PROTECTION & RECOGNITION: M: Municipal Protection

SIGNIFICANCE: C: Contextual or Character

Charles Woodward opened his store at Main and E. Georgia in 1892. Seeing potential on Hastings Street, he moved there in 1902-1903, and by 1908 enlarged the W.T. Whiteway and George Wenyon designed building from four to six floors. A full range of goods – including a pharmacy and its famous food floor – proved highly successful. By 1946 it expanded eight times, four in the 1920s alone.

Charles’ sons William and Percival led the growth into B.C. and Alberta: the first mall store was at Park Royal, West Vancouver, in 1950. Sales declined in the early 1980s, and in 1993 the flagship store on Hastings closed.

This devastated what was at one time the city’s retail hub.

In 2009 a revitalized Woodward’s complex opened with social and market housing, new shops and a campus of Simon Fraser University. The red “W”, a landmark since 1929, was set on the 1908 building.

SOURCE: City of Vancouver Heritage Plaque Program