Plenty of shoppers still waiting for liquidation deals at Vancouver’s Hudson’s Bay​on March 24, 2025 at 11:58 pm

There was a carnival-like atmosphere — and a lot of confusion — Monday morning in the fire exit stairwell at the back of the downtown Vancouver flagship Hudson’s Bay store.

Shoppers came out in droves in search of deals, thinking the company’s liquidation sales were starting. Because the elevators and escalators weren’t working, they walked single file up and down the stairs, at times stopping en masse to let an older woman with a cane catch her breath near a landing or a child fix her shoe.

One couple stopped mid-staircase, turned around and huddled together to take a selfie and capture the atmosphere.

But those in search of big deals were in for a letdown. One man called out: “Go home! The big sales don’t start until tomorrow.”

While there were many signs on every floor marking merchandise as being discounted “Up to 50 per cent off” or “Up to 60 per cent off” most had been put up for sales to begin on Tuesday.

Scanning the racks in the ladies shoe section, Kristen Forbes said she and a friend had earlier picked up a jacket they thought was discounted by 40 per cent, only to be told by the cashier, “‘No, it’s still full price.’ They said, ‘We’ll hold it for you until tomorrow.’ So they took her name.”

That said, in the bedding section, it was actually the last day of a clearance sale that has been underway for some time. This left some customers strategizing whether to wait further or to just pick up sheets and duvet sets marked with discounts of 60 to 70 per cent off.

Some clearly weren’t willing to risk the wait. Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University, said he saw one couple over the weekend who appeared to be in their 60s carrying a dining table down the stairwell.

On the ground floor, the area where the classic Hudson’s Bay striped point blankets were on display is now completely bare. The blankets have been a hot item since the company entered creditor protection. Buyers have been clamouring to collect a piece of Canadian retail history or to try and resell them online for thousands of dollars.

Hudson’s Bay was given court approval last Friday to begin liquidating all but six of its 80 department stores, 13 Saks Off Fifth locations, and three Saks Fifth Avenue shops in Canada.

Liquidation sales work in various ways and it depends on the inventory being sold off and the type of business, said Linda Perkovic, a deals and valuations manager at Maynards Liquidation Group.

“Because Hudson’s Bay is known to the public, there will be lower discounts, which could be from 10 per cent to 25 per cent at the start of the liquidation process. As the weeks carry on, the discounts will increase, but the inventory will deplete and the product available will change.”