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Hudson’s Bay Chain Faces “immediate Liquidation”
The CBC reports:
Hudson’s Bay Company is nearly a billion dollars in debt, according to court filings that paint a dire portrait of the struggling Canadian department store chain’s finances. The documents were submitted as part of its creditor protection filing last week. The company owes a total of $950 million to nearly 2,000 secured and unsecured creditors.
Some experts say The Bay’s decline began long before the pandemic, tracing its issues back to its 2008 acquisition by the American investment firm NRDC Equity Partners, and saying that the company’s new ownership prioritized its real estate over a cohesive retail strategy.
The company’s lack of investment in its stores became evident in recent years, with floors understaffed, escalators and elevators in disrepair and faulty HVAC systems leading to temporary closures last summer.
The Canadian Press reports:
Despite holding out hope it can avoid a full shutdown, Hudson’s Bay says it is planning an “immediate” liquidation that would begin next week and wrap up in June. In a late Friday announcement, Canada’s oldest company said it couldn’t secure the necessary financing to keep at least some of its empire alive. The department store chain dates back to 1670 and now spans 80 stores.
A full liquidation in Canada wouldn’t just plunge a large portion of the country’s retail workforce into unemployment but would also leave anchor tenant spaces in malls and prestige real estate in high-traffic shopping districts in need of filling. The sites Hudson’s Bay operates in often contain several floors and make up significantly more square footage than other retailer businesses.
The US division of Hudson’s Bay Company is Saks Global, the parent of Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks Global was created just last year with the $2.7 billion acquisition of the now-defunct Neiman Marcus Group. It’s not clear how a shutdown of Canadian operations would affect the US locations.
The Hudson’s Bay Company (1670-2025?) Use those gift cards sooner than later if you have them. Gift article.
— Oly Backstrom (@olybackstrom.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Hudson’s Bay is the anchor tenant at more than a dozen small-town Canadian malls.
As the company fights for its life in bankruptcy court, nobody really knows who will fill the vast spaces it’s likely to leave behind.
Story by @catherinemcintyre.bsky.social.
thelogic.co/news/hudsons…
— James Temperton (@jtemperton.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
TORONTO – Despite holding out hope it can avoid a full shutdown, Hudson’s Bay says it is planning an “immediate” liquidation that would begin next week and wrap up in June.
— Winnipeg Free Press (@winnipegfreepress.com) March 15, 2025 at 10:58 AM
The department store chain, founded in 1670, can’t pay its debts and says the pandemic, inflation and now trade tensions have hurt its financial future.
— NPR (@npr.org) March 10, 2025 at 7:12 PM
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