CBC Digital Archives

War of the Woodwards

When Venture first launched in 1985, one stated goal was to be a TV version of the Wall Street Journal's front page: lively, lucid and wide-ranging. It's about business, but it's not just for businessmen and businesswomen. Venture covered all the aspects of the economy in Canada and beyond: prices, profits, personnel, innovation and ideas as they affect any business. From farms to fishing boats, boardrooms to barbershops, Venture was about the business of making a living.

Vancouver department store chain Woodward's  is embroiled in a bidding war between two family members: CEO Charles "Chunky" Woodward, grandson of founder Charles Woodward, and company president Grant "Woodie" MacLaren, Chunky's cousin. As a lagging economy affects B.C., Woodward's is looking to sell its real estate holdings and Woodie and Chunky each support a different buyer. It's a soap-operatic power struggle for a Vancouver institution. 
• Woodie MacLaren was the eventual loser of the battle for Woodward's. Later in 1985, he resigned as president and withdrew the court action he had brought against his cousin Chunky for control of the chain.

• The Woodward's empire filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and the company's assets were bought up by the Hudson's Bay Company, which converted most of the remaining stores to Zellers and Bay stores.

• Chunky Woodward was an avid horseman and self-proclaimed cowboy. In 1959, he gave Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip a quarter-horse which became a polo mount for Prince Charles. Peppy San, another of Chunky's horses, was a world famous quarter-horse stud. Chunk and Peppy San are immortalized in a statue at Edmonton's Millwoods Town Centre mall.
Medium: Television
Program: Venture
Broadcast Date: June 3, 1985
Host: Patrick Watson
Duration: 5:39

Last updated: January 26, 2012

Page consulted on March 27, 2013

All Clips from this Topic

Related Content

1996: B.C. digs out from massive blizzard

Residents in Victoria and Vancouver shovel out after a record-breaking snowstorm hits the lowe...

Whistler's Uphill Ascent

The mountains and spectacular scenery have always been there. But until the 1950s, the Whistle...