Hudson’s Bay to liquidate entire business unless last-minute solution found​on March 15, 2025 at 2:40 am

TORONTO — Canada’s oldest company Hudson’s Bay says it will begin liquidating its entire business as soon as next week unless it finds a more viable path forward.

The department store chain with 80 stores says it has been forced toward a full liquidation because exhaustive efforts haven’t turned up the financing the company needs to restructure.

Hudson’s Bay says it remains hopeful that it can drum up capital and find a solution with stakeholders, including its landlord partners, to avoid a full shutdown.

Restructuring would save jobs and preserve tenancy in retail locations, but “would necessitate significant capital and immediate and substantial cooperation from landlords and other critical partners,” it said in a news release Friday evening.

A closure of the entire business would mean job losses for 9,364 employees the company has in Canada across its Hudson’s Bay stores, as well as three Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 13 Saks Off 5th locations it owns through a licensing agreement.

The company said store liquidations could start next week. During this process, Bay stores, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Saks Off 5th stores will remain open. The store’s online site will also stay open “for a limited time.”

The liquidation news comes after the beleaguered company sought creditor protection from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on March 7.

In its application, Hudson’s Bay said it was facing financial struggles because of subdued consumer spending, trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada, and post-pandemic drops in downtown store traffic.

The filing shows the company owes more than $950 million to 26 pages’ worth of listed creditors: landlords, suppliers and other partners, including fashion heavyweights Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Columbia Sportswear, Diesel and Estee Lauder.

Jennifer Bewley, the chief financial officer for Hudson’s Bay’s parent company, said in the filing that the business had to defer certain payments to such companies for many months because it was having so much trouble making payments to landlords, service providers and vendors.

The situation was so severe that she said a landlord “unlawfully locked” Hudson’s Bay out of a store located in Sydney, N.S. and a team of bailiffs attempted to seize merchandise from another location it runs in Sherway Gardens, a suburban Toronto mall.

The court filing was not meant to be the precursor to the closure of the business because Hudson’s Bay was intent to on keeping the company alive and as much of its sprawling footprint operational as possible.

One week later, the company finds itself in much more dire shape. It said the store-by-store liquidation is necessary because it has only secured “limited” debtor-in-possession financing — a form of capital companies can seek for restructuring purposes after they make creditor protection filings.

With files from Postmedia.