BC Business
Army & Navy celebrates 100 years in historic Gastown with a birthday bash
An intimate gathering of 200 guests attended the Army & Navy’s 100th birthday celebrations at the flagship store in Gastown. Guests wandered the renovated store, enjoyed food and drink and shopped the night away. Jacqui Cohen, Army & Navy Department Store president and CEO, addressed the crowd, commenting on the company her grandfather Samuel started. OUTtv owner and former B.C. politician Joy MacPhail and Melanie Mark, B.C. Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, also addressed the crowd. A special snack bar called “Jack’s Place” was set up in the store in honour of Jacqui’s father, Jack Cohen, former Army & Navy VP.
Beginning Wednesday, May 1, at 8 a.m., Army & Navy will open the doors of its five stores for its popular shoe sale, birthday cake for early shoppers and storewide Deals of the Century with prices as low as 100 cents.
Samuel Joseph Cohen, a Jewish Canadian, opened the first Army & Navy location on West Hastings Street in Vancouver in 1919, selling liquidation stock from closing, bankrupt or destroyed stores, and World War I army and navy surplus goods at low prices.