Hudson’s Bay to liquidate entire business, still seeking additional capital
 

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business...ional-capital/

Yikes and a sad end to such a storied company in Canada.

#not in recession. Yea I feel sad too, I remember going to the Bay and Zellers when I was a kid. I thought they had a lot of money in real estate? But I guess offices/ commercial values tanked.

10% off :lol

Sniff sniff…. The last department store…. Etons, fields, zellers, sears, and now the bay. What a sad day

I always thought that if they rebranded themselves as a smaller high end department store like asia they could’ve been competitive to holt renfrew but they decided to stay in the nineties

Yea department stores in Asia be booming and they actually have shit, like everything under the sun to buy

No one in here is sad about it, you all shop on scamazon and support local stores going out of business

I like shopping at the Bay for clothing - it's not glitzy but they have a decent selection of European and premium brands under the same roof. Between Bay days, random sales, and solid clearance sections, I always get much nicer clothing for only a bit more than shopping at Winners / Marshalls.

Stuck in the 90s as noclue says is the the same sentiment with all of my friends. My bigger problem with the Bay is finding good deals and walking out with a dent in my wallet.

Who buys clothes on Amazon, :fulloffuck: and I can only afford Costco sale clothes now :okay:

They do have a lot of money in real estate. Hudson's Bay has been owned since 2008 by NRDC Equity Partners, a private investment firm controlled by the American retail and real estate mogul Richard Baker, who has a record of scooping up retailers and often profiting from their valuable real-estate holdings.

Their demise started by this acquisition. The end game was never about the retail operation, but rather the sizable real estate holding that HBC held. The real estate portfolio was actually more valuable than the retail business itself.

HBC's retail business up to 2008 suffered the same changing consumer demands and retail landscape that saw Eatons, Sears and many other department store chains in the US go out of business. They were outmoded before Amazon really became the retail powerhouse that they are now.

But back to HBC: People in the industry new the end was near for the Bay when Pathlight Capital extended a $500M loan to HBC at a very predatory rate of interest (think retail credit card rates).

The loan was secured by the Bay's real estate including their leases, and Pathlight's position was ahead of all the landlords'.

The end play of Pathlight was always to get control of the real estate through the backdoor.

They have now achieved this.

HBC will restructure down to 40 stores from 80. They will be allowed to disclaim all of the leases of their worst locations. They will assign their middle of the road locations to retailers like Walmart (at a profit) and either sell or redevelop the assets they own outright.

Pathlight, as HBC'S largest secured creditor gets to call the shots.

HBC has been on the bubble for quite some time. They had a lease termination with a fee of 600K and had to pay the landlord in installments. They weren't getting any trade credit and thus the opportunity for Pathlight to step in was created.

Also, there's some rumblings that the dealings were not entirely arms length.

I try not to shop Amazon but last Sunday I went to Sport Chek to buy some hikers. Merrell Men's Moab 3's.

$175.

at Amazon, $103. AND, delivered by dinner that same day.

I asked for a price match, they laughed.

anyways, goodbye Hudsons Bay. I'm not surprised one bit. they never adapted to the times, and I have no idea why.

The problem with HBC's real estates is -- those places are not easy to repurpose or liquidate. So on paper, it is worth a lot. But in practice, it is really hard to find a new buyer, or turn it into something with a renewed purpose.

Goodbye to another remnant of colonialist capitalism <3

i guess i better use the gift card i have....

I am rolling my eyes here...

9800 jobs will be lost

Hey !!!! Ya know what that means ?!?! Seiko watches for everyone !!!! Ahhhhhh me go rummage through its shit now.

Snowflake? :alonehappy:

could use a new Stearns Foster mattress though.

That's not the point, but I'm glad you're posting

That is the point of this thread

Never "roll your eyes" at history

And yes, it still sucks that a large Canadian company is dying

My whole fiy in from Aamzon. It's actually very good quality for the price.

Toy R Us is calling it quits. CLosing the showroom.

By the time they realized they had to pivot they had no cash left and no one was crazy enough to try and inject capital.

The Bay was dying like 10 years ago. Todays economic climate didn't help, but The Bay wasn't going to make it regardless.

the bay downtown has zero functioning escalators and elevators....wish i knew that before i went down with my family and had to carry the stroller up to the 6th fucking floor.