Liquidation Sale At All 80 Canadian Hudson’s Bay Stores Could Begin Today

Written by Pamela N. Danziger on March 18, 2025. Posted in Canada.

Topline

Plans to liquidate and shut down all 80 Hudson’s Bay stores and e-commerce operations in Canada, along with three Saks Fifth Avenue and 13 Saks Off 5th Avenue locations there, could begin today unless a financial lifeline is found to sustain some operations — a prospect that appears increasingly unlikely, according to CBC.

Key Facts

On March 7, the Hudson’s Bay Company filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), the Canadian equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, while it sought to secure additional financing to pursue a restructuring transaction.

Initial plans were to shutter about half of the company’s operations, but on March 14, Hudson’s Bay Company announced it would undergo full liquidation unless an alternative financial solution was found forthwith.

In court proceedings on Monday, March 17, Hudson’s Bay lawyer Ashley Taylor said it planned to begin liquidation immediately because a “quick start” will maximize the value of the business and “preserve whatever chance there is of a restructuring.”

The closures will impact some 9,300 employees and bring to an end a legendary Canadian institution and one of North America’s oldest continually-operating businesses, founded in 1670 to trade striped wool blankets, a company icon that it still sells today, to Indigenous people for beaver pelts.

Key Background

Hudson’s Bay Company is owned by American real-estate mogul Richard Baker. His NRDC Equity Partners investment firm acquired the retailer in 2008, combining it under HBC with Lord & Taylor, which it acquired in 2006. Saks Fifth Avenue was added to HBC’s holdings in 2013, shortly after going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2012. Following a number years of weakening performance, HBC went private in 2020. Then, at the close of last year, HBC acquired Neiman Marcus Group, and spun off Hudson’s Bay Company and Saks Global as separate entities with Baker as chairman of both. Saks Global includes Saks stores, the off-price Saks Off 5th Avenue chain, its independent Saks e-commerce online company, the flagship Neiman Marcus stores and Bergdorf Goodman.

Tangled Web Of Real Estate And Retail Holdings

Over the years, Richard Baker has been transparent that his interest in retail is about its real estate. “Our largest business is our real estate business. Everyone seems to have forgotten that I was a real estate guy, still am, and that HBC is primarily a real estate company,” he said in a 2023 interview with WWD.

Poor Retail Track Record

Baker has proved he isn’t a retail guy with a track record of running retail businesses into the ground. He sold off Lord & Taylor operations to Le Tote for $100 million before it went completely under and the Lord & Taylor flagship Fifth Avenue building to WeWork for some $850 million. He acquired Germany’s Galeria Kaufhof chain in 2015, which didn’t turn out too well, and was sold off in 2019. He also has Gilt Group, Fortunoff and Home Outfitters on his list of failed retail acquisitions. Saks Global is not involved in the Hudson’s Bay proceedings other than tangentially, through the Saks and Saks Off 5th Avenue store operations that it leases to Hudson’s Bay. Nonetheless, Saks Global has its own performance and financial issues to deal with.

Crucial Quote

“Baker’s real estate roots put him in the long line of retail interlopers, including Robert Campeau (Federated) and ‘Fast Buck’ Lampert (Kmart and Sears) who got into the retail business only for the real estate. At least Baker has been smart enough to take HBC private so nobody can watch what’s going on under the covers,” observed The Robin Report’s Warren Shoulberg.

What We Don’t Know

A last-minute financial lifeline could still be found to avoid liquidation. In yesterday’s court proceedings, Hudson’s Bay attorney Taylor said the company had approached 19 potential lenders and major landlords to get rent concessions, all of which failed. Attorney Andrew Hatnay, representing company employees, argued that the liquidation of Hudson’s Bay would amount to the largest mass job loss in the country since the folding of Sears Canada. He asked that the liquidation be delayed by a week saying, “Once liquidation starts, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The business will be finished.” Ontario Superior Court Judge Peter Osborne seemed to share the same sentiment. “I want to make sure we haven’t sold the jewels in the crowns, so to make a better outcome possible.” Note: Hudson’s Bay did not respond to a request for comment.