The M&E Dispatch // 065

I heard the news. I’ve seen the liquidation signs and its now know that you’re closing the last of your stores after all. There will be no survivors.

And while I can’t remember the last time I actually shopped in one, the truth is-you were always there.
In the background of my childhood.
As the anchor and heart of the mall.
Between the weird perfume cloud and the cafeteria line that smelled faintly of boiled beef and Saran Wrap.

I remember sitting in the non-smoking section of your cafeteria, eating lime Jell-O with what I assume was an oil-based whipped topping while my folks eagerly eyed up a new VCR. This one could record as well as play, which later led to a clandestine WrestleMania Duplication Enterprise that shall remain legally ambiguous. But I digress.

The escalator was our rollercoaster. My brother and I spent hours daring each other to walk up the down side, run down the up side, cross over the centre and smash the emergency stop button. All while getting glares from tired sales staff who’d clearly seen one too many unattended children run rampant in 1990’s moon boots.

We’d get “lost” in the bedding section just to flop onto the mattresses, mess up the blankets and pretend we were test-driving adult life.
Spoiler: adult life doesn’t have that many pillows, or even pillow cases for that matter…

You were never trendy. That was kind of your thing.

You had dusty TVs, discount microwaves, pants with 8-inch zippers, and those one-size-fits-none parkas that could stop a winter gust in Yellowknife but made you look like a lost snowplow.

But you were also where people bought their first good coat.
Where families got “fancy towels” for guests no one liked.
Where someone-maybe you-still stocked moccasins year-round.

And of course, you sold the blanket.
That iconic stripe that somehow became high fashion, outdoor gear, and cottage-core all in one.
I’m pretty sure everyone in Canada either owns one, inherited one, or quietly stole one from an Airbnb.

But you were more than products.
You were a place.

A place you walked through, even if you weren’t buying anything.
A place that still had an employee with a name tag that read “Manager” like it was a title earned in battle.

A place that stayed stubbornly Canadian while everyone else chased sleek and soulless.

You were where the frontier met high street marketing.
Where you could buy a parka, a puzzle, a paring knife, and a pair of golf shorts in one lap around the store.

And while the shelves got sparser and the staff fewer, you held on.
Quieter, older, out of step-but still showing up.

But long before escalators and Lime Jell-O...

You were there.
At the edge of the map. At the start of the trail. At the mouth of the river.

You weren’t just a store. You were infrastructure.
The only point of contact between a prospector and the rest of civilization.
A lifeline strung across impossible distances by canoe, by dog sled, by sheer stubbornness.

You didn’t just sell supplies-you sold survival.
Flour, salt, wool, rope, animals.
Names scratched into ledgers.
Trade goods exchanged under frostbitten tents and battered roofs.

In some places, you were the last voice a trapper heard for the season.
In others… the last voice they ever heard at all.

You were the station.
The waypoint.
The dispatch point for hope and hunger and hare-brained northern ambition.
The constant in an ever changing landscape.

And in doing all that, you quietly helped build Canada.

Not the Canada of coffee shops and content strategy.
The Canada of iron rail, axe-blazed trail, and socked-in winters that didn’t care how ready you thought you were.

You knew the cost of being here.
You outfitted the cost of being here.

And somewhere in between the Hudson’s Bay point blanket and the mirrored perfume counters, we forgot that.

We forgot that you helped stitch together a country by being the one place people could count on to be there - no matter the season, the storm, or the stupidity of their expedition.

And the funny thing is… we could still use you.

With no Sears anymore, where does one go to buy a fridge, a chainsaw, a wedding suit, and a canoe all under one roof?

With rising concerns about sovereignty and supply chains you, the original logistics master of the North, would’ve had ideas.

When everyone else was waiting on global shipping lanes, you already had centuries of moving goods across ice, rivers, oceans and rail.

You knew how to barter, negotiate, and build relationships that lasted, long before someone put “procurement strategist” in a LinkedIn profile.

We could use a Hudson’s Bay-style approach to diplomacy right now.
One built on trust, durability, and the kind of ledgers that didn’t need refreshing every quarter.

So here’s to you, HBC.

Not for the clearance racks and Christmas blowouts.
But for the centuries of showing up.

You were the quiet constant. The rugged original. The last of the true outfitters.

And as Canada heads to the polls this weekend to elect its Prime Minister-the last of your reign-we’ll say goodbye.

And I’ll lift a bowl of lime Jell-O, curl up on our clearance sectional under that striped wool blanket, and watch Netflix on a flat-screen TV... all outfitted by the last great Canadian store that could.

-Signed: A Jello Eating 80’s kid who never stopped riding the down escalator the wrong way

// The Dirt

NioCorp Closes $20.8M Public Offering
NioCorp (NASDAQ: NB) locks in gross proceeds through the sale of 7.7 million shares, bolstering its Elk Creek project pipeline.
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Tartisan Completes Phase 1 Access Road for Kenbridge
The critical minerals project now features a restricted all-season access road-an important development milestone.
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Midland Snaps Up Kan Gold Project in Labrador Trough
Midland gains 100% of the Kan project in a strategic acquisition from Tectonic Resources.
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Astra Commences Drilling at La Manchuria After $1M Warrant Injection
Fresh funding kicks off a new drill campaign in Argentina’s Deseado Massif.
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Centerra Takes 9.9% Stake in Thesis Gold
A strategic investment deepens ties as Thesis advances its Ranch Gold Project in B.C.
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Lomiko Closes First Tranche of Private Placement
The graphite-focused explorer raises $411K as part of its non-brokered financing.
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Sage Potash Appoints New President, Secures Loan Agreement
Tim Mizuno takes the helm as the potash junior gears up for the next phase of development.
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Radisson Closes Oversubscribed $7M Placement
Funds from the non-brokered raise will go toward exploration and development in Quebec.
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Zimtu Capital Plans 5-for-1 Share Consolidation
The Vancouver-based resource investment firm prepares for a streamlined share structure.
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Abasca Wraps Winter Program, Launches $1.25M Raise
The uranium junior concludes its Key Lake South program and opens a private placement.
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Tuesday morning I’ll be writing to you after the PM of Canada has been chosen. Partisan politics aside, having selected a leader and party will give Canada the ability to focus on what matters most. The constant expansion of the Canadian Trade Empire.

All ways and always. The HBC way.

Have a great weekend, all.
- Lee