The business of the Company is one of the longest continuing enterprises in the world, tracing its roots back to North American’s first trading post, established on the shores of James Bay in 1668 — where a NORTHERN store is still operating today. The original North West Company was a partnership of Montreal-based entrepreneurial traders formed in 1779. Between 1779 and 1821, The North West Company “Wintering Partners” travelled inland from the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes vigorously competing against the Hudson’s Bay Company and venturing westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1821 the two companies amalgamated under the Hudson’s Bay Company name, creating a fur trade monopoly that covered one quarter of North America. Throughout the 1800s and into this century, the enterprise continued under the Hudson’s Bay Company ownership until the assets of The Northern Stores Division were acquired by the employees and a group of new investors in 1987. In 1990 the Company renewed its link to the past and re-established its identity as an independent retailer by changing its corporate name to The North West Company, and the trading name of its retail operations to NORTHERN.

Only five years old, the new company crossed the international border by acquiring Alaska Commercial Company and Frontier Expeditors in 1992. Headquartered in Anchorage, AC Company is the largest retail chain in rural Alaska; FEI is a wholesaler serving smaller, independent retailers. Today The North West Company is the leading retailer of food, family apparel, and general merchandise in small, northern communities. The company also applies its unique heritage and knowledge of the North by operating complementary businesses which include the Inuit Art Marketing Service, Hudson’s Bay Blanket Division, Fur Marketing Division, Heritage Marketing Division and Transport Igloolik. With its head office, Gibraltar House, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the company’s staff of 4,000 operate over 150 stores across northern Canada and more than 20 in Alaska. It is the largest private sector employer of aboriginal people in Canada.
 

1. The new Tomorrow Store concept (Introduces in Nelson House, Manitoba in 1993) Offers a superior shopping environment designed for each community it serves. 2. The North West Company is involved with community concerns like sports, good nutrition (with it's Healthy Living Program), the stay-in-school campaign, literacy, and other native programs and associations.

A new distribution centre, complete with the latest in warehousing technology, is located in Winnipeg and provides stores with food and general merchandise. The company’s Montreal-based ship, the MV Aivik, brings goods to stores throughout the eastern Arctic. As well, customers are serviced by the company’s three annual “Selections” catalogues, which are also translated into Greenlandic and distributed to 20,000 homes in Greenland.

The North West Company continues to live up to its “Enterprising” motto. New locations are opened, facilities upgraded and new services — such as fast food, banking and travel — constantly introduced. It has come a long way since those first trading posts, and while The North West Company carries its heritage proudly, it is still making history today.