Continent's Oldest Company Has New Millennium Blanketed

TORONTO - It takes something special to induce Hudson's Bay Co. to tinker with its trademark product: a thick, wool blanket that has warded off frigid Canadian winters for 220 years.

The legendary "point" blanket once prized by Indians and frontiersmen, and now valued as a fashion statement, has remained unchanged since its design, colors and quality became standard in 1779.

Only on momentous occasions such as the coronation of Britain's King George in 1936 and Queen Elizabeth in 1953, has North America's oldest company offered the blankets in alternate colors sold while supplies lasted.

The new millennium is another special event. Last month, two variations of the blanket considered a Canadian icon were introduced. Customers were offered certificates of authenticity and their names were inscribed in company archives as the "first adventurers of the 21st century."

"Our tradition has been to introduce new colors for significant events," said Brenda Hobbs, the 329-year-old company's manager of records and historical information.

It may be a marketing ploy, but it resonates with the history and tradition of a company steeped in Canada's frontier past. The traditional Hudson's Bay blanket is part of the national lore of rugged "voyageurs" exploring the vast landscape while fighting and trading with natives.

The "points" are dark, 6-inch-long lines woven into each blanket that denoted its trading value in beaver pelts.

While no longer bartered, the retail price of a four-point double-bed version, $170, (U.S.) roughly equals the cost of four beaver pelts today, Hobbs said.

The millennium blankets keep the minimalist design of the traditional styles and colors. One is off-white with stripes in varying shades of brown, and the other is charcoal gray with black bands.

Hobbs said the millennium blankets only were sold by The Bay department stores in Canada and would be available through 2001. The first 2,000 come with the special certification, she said.

The company sells 6,000 of the traditional blankets each year at prices up to $400 (U.S.).

The traditional blankets are sometimes handed down as family heirlooms, Hobbs noted. Shoppers buy them as wedding gifts to replicate blankets received when people were married years earlier, for example.

Everyone from Canadian Olympic teams to Playboy magazine models have been photographed wearing them, and U.S. home-style maven Martha Stewart claims a personal collection.

The alternate colors come amid other changes as the company chartered by British King Charles II in 1670 approaches its fourth turn of century.

Its Bay chain of 99 department stores is being divided into two groups: "express" stores in the suburbs, designed for convenience, and the more traditional "experience" stores primarily in downtown areas that focus on providing customers a wide assortment of goods and services.

The new express stores - two have been set up - have a centralized checkout system, more self-serve items, and buggies and bags available to make shopping easier.