Canadian Retail Thread

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by trebor204

Hudson's Bay hope to save 6 stores (not sure where yet)

Liquidation process begins Monday to end by June 15, and to vacate the properties by June 30


https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hud...ures-1.7489551

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/arti...m-liquidation/

Six stores. Six big cities. Hmmmm...........

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by trebor204

Hudson's Bay hope to save 6 stores (not sure where yet)

Liquidation process begins Monday to end by June 15, and to vacate the properties by June 30


https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hud...ures-1.7489551

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/arti...m-liquidation/

If they end up keeping 6 stores, I would expect one each in the six biggest metro areas. Though I’m not sure if they’d pick Winnipeg over Ottawa because of its history in Winnipeg.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Six stores. Six big cities. Hmmmm...........

Or they could pick the 6 highest performing stores

[trebor204]

Updated Info

The six stores Hudson’s Bay wants to save from the liquidation sale include the flagship location on Yonge Street in Toronto, as well as a store in the city’s Yorkdale mall and another at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ont. The remaining three are in Montreal, the Carrefour Laval mall and Pointe-Clare, Que.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by trebor204

Updated Info

The six stores Hudson’s Bay wants to save from the liquidation sale include the flagship location on Yonge Street in Toronto, as well as a store in the city’s Yorkdale mall and another at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ont. The remaining three are in Montreal, the Carrefour Laval mall and Pointe-Clare, Que.

Strange that Hillcrest Mall is one of the six. Thought in the GTA, Bay stores in Fairview Mall or Square One would be more likely candidates.

[Nouvellecosse]

Meh... if they do preserve 6 then I'm not that worried. Holt Renfrew only has 6 stores to begin with so I'm fine with that. Department stores just aren't as big a part of life in the western world that they used to be 100 or even 50 years ago. So we don't need dozens of stores in malls sprinkled across the country.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Strange that Hillcrest Mall is one of the six. Thought in the GTA, Bay stores in Fairview Mall or Square One would be more likely candidates.

I thought the Hillcrest was a bit odd too. Sorry to see none in Ottawa, but it will certainly simplify there operations. Unfortunately, if they can't get their marketting and merchandising acts together, it is not going to help.

[Acajack]

I knew Yonge, Ste-Catherine and Yorkdale would be on the "retain" list. The others I had no idea but I guess it's a pure question of math (sales per sq ft).

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I knew Yonge, Ste-Catherine and Yorkdale would be on the "retain" list. The others I had no idea but I guess it's a pure question of math (sales per sq ft).

The stores that would be kept (if investment funding can be found) are apparently all more lucrative than others.

[Wigs]

Seems my assumption of highest performing stores might be correct.

This just really sucks because near me The Bay is the anchor for both St. Catharines Pen Centre (~1 million sq ft), and Hamilton's Limeridge Mall (~815,000 sq ft). And I'm sure many other malls across the country.

The 2 storey Pen Centre location of The Bay has been there for at least 50 years unless I'm mistaken.
Pen Centre once had 3 huge department stores: The Bay, Eaton's, and Simpsons which became Sears.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by trebor204

Updated Info

The six stores Hudson’s Bay wants to save from the liquidation sale include the flagship location on Yonge Street in Toronto, as well as a store in the city’s Yorkdale mall and another at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ont. The remaining three are in Montreal, the Carrefour Laval mall and Pointe-Clare, Que.

I'm surprised they didn't think any of their western stores were worth saving.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Seems my assumption of highest performing stores might be correct.

This just really sucks because near me The Bay is the anchor for both St. Catharines Pen Centre (~1 million sq ft), and Hamilton's Limeridge Mall (~815,000 sq ft). And I'm sure many other malls across the country.

The 2 storey Pen Centre location of The Bay has been there for at least 50 years unless I'm mistaken.
Pen Centre once had 3 huge department stores: The Bay, Eaton's, and Simpsons which became Sears.

It is one anchor of the main mall in my city, Les Promenades Gatineau, occupying roughly 10% of the mall's floor space.

Thankfully, some years ago the mall landed Costco, a very unlikely tenant for a large regional enclosed mall. Costco is in what used to be an old Eaton's store, which anchored the mall at the opposite end from The Bay.

Costco has been a huge success at Les Promenades. Without it, the mall would already be teetering and the loss of The Bay would be another nail in the coffin.

I wonder if The Bay (the only two-storey retail section of the mall) space might not get repurposed into residential. Maybe for seniors.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It is one anchor of the main mall in my city, Les Promenades Gatineau, occupying roughly 10% of the mall's floor space.

Thankfully, some years ago the mall landed Costco, a very unlikely tenant for a large regional enclosed mall. Costco is in what used to be an old Eaton's store, which anchored the mall at the opposite end from The Bay.

Costco has been a huge success at Les Promenades. Without it, the mall would already be teetering and the loss of The Bay would be another nail in the coffin.

I wonder if The Bay (the only two-storey retail section of the mall) space might not get repurposed into residential. Maybe for seniors.

Costco was a smart move. They typically get more customers than even Walmart because they draw from a larger area (example: Niagara Region has 2 Costcos for ~540,000 people).
Pen Centre has a newer Walmart but I don't consider that chain a regional draw.
And if people make the time commitment to go to Costco they might be more likely to check out what's new at the mall as well.

So as not to clog up the thread

I think every major mall in Canada should be modified to have mid-high density residential: a mix of building typologies, Seniors apartments above. You'd have a built in clientele.

At the smaller mall in Niagara, Seaway Mall they demo'd the defunct Target space for what should eventually be 1,300 residential units:
a mix of low rise townhouse, apartments, 2 Midrise (around 8? storeys) and 1 High-rise (16? storeys) structure. The low rise structures provide a buffer for nearby residential. The developer claims they are planting 1,000 trees (on what was asphalt parking lot for 50 years).

Warbler Place

What better place to put high density residential than an existing shopping centre site surrounded by acres of asphalt/thousands of parking spaces (big malls can exceed parking for 5,000 cars). IIRC Seaway Mall (used to be 550,000 sq ft) had somewhere between 3,000-4000 parking spaces at one time.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Strange that Hillcrest Mall is one of the six. Thought in the GTA, Bay stores in Fairview Mall or Square One would be more likely candidates.

I would’ve expected Scarborough Town Centre over Fairview Mall. STC’s store is a lot nicer and as I recall (albeit pre-Covid) it was a lot busier than the Fairview location.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I'm surprised they didn't think any of their western stores were worth saving.

Definitely a geographical decision due to supply chain logistics. This is a combination of individual store performance and density I think. I'm glad HBC isn't dead and there's a chance of a revival.

[youngregina]

I am disappointed there won't be any stores in Calgary, or Vancouver. I would have thought at least one in each major city would have stayed open in the west. (Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg). I hope that they will maintain an online presence and deliver Stripes and Gluckstein Home products.

Oh well. Simons has a better and more diverse clothing selection for men in their early 30s anyways. I just like the Bay's Home stuff so much!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by youngregina

I am disappointed there won't be any stores in Calgary, or Vancouver. I would have thought at least one in each major city would have stayed open in the west. (Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg). I hope that they will maintain an online presence and deliver Stripes and Gluckstein Home products.

Oh well. Simons has a better and more diverse clothing selection for men in their early 30s anyways. I just like the Bay's Home stuff so much!

I think the on-line sales are supposed to be closed down.

[Loco101]

I don't know if the six stores will actually end up surviving. Will it still have the same American owners and executives? Will the remaining stores still be as large as they are now and carry the same merchandise? I'm just not impressed with what the company has proposed.

[MolsonExport]

Go to Japan to experience Department Stores as they were in the glory days. Wow. Tremendous service, fabulous selection, elegance/sophistication. You feel the energy. You feel important.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Go to Japan to experience Department Stores as they were in the glory days. Wow. Tremendous service, fabulous selection, elegance/sophistication. You feel the energy. You feel important.

How is the South Korean Lotte department store?
Does it live up to hype?