The North West Company: A Wide-Moat Canadian Retail Gem

Wall Street is scouring the San Francisco Bay Area for new, disruptive companies.

I’m scouring the Hudson Bay Area for legacy businesses dating back to the 1600’s.

We are not the same.

Which leads into today’s subject… An interesting Canadian dividend stock that dates back to 1668.

The North West Company Inc. ($NWC for Canadians and $NNWWF for U.S. investors) is a high-yield Canadian retailer that operates in some of Canada’s most remote settlements.

This business can trace its roots back to the days of the original North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading businesses (if you like history, Stephen Bown has an excellent book on this subject called The Company). And the modern North West Company still operates in many of the old Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading post locations.

And as mentioned earlier, some of these sites are extremely remote…

What Does The North West Company Do?

Have you ever heard of Arctic Bay, Canada?

It’s the northernmost community in Canada and only accessible by plane or boat.

994 people live in Arctic Bay. And they do their shopping at the local Northern Store…