RGB_11
Active Member
RIP HBC? (including the 6 stores?) April 30th deadline: https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/april-30-deadline-looms-whats-next-for-hudsons-bay
|
|
|
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Globe:
www.theglobeandmail.com
AoD
Hudson’s Bay to auction off artifacts, including 1670 charter
Retailer says auction will take place separately from the sale process for all or part of its assets and operations
www.theglobeandmail.com
AoD
christiesplits
Senior Member
From the Globe:
Hudson’s Bay to auction off artifacts, including 1670 charter
Retailer says auction will take place separately from the sale process for all or part of its assets and operations
AoD
Don't tell Trump.
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
From the Globe:
Hudson’s Bay to auction off artifacts, including 1670 charter
Retailer says auction will take place separately from the sale process for all or part of its assets and operations
AoD
This is a sign of an end of era right here for Canada's oldest company.
nightstreak
Active Member
Definitely an end of an era but it isn't necessarily the end of the company — just the beginning of a much leaner HBC. The better than expected retail performance that enabled them to aim for keeping 6 stores instead of complete dissolution shows that there's still value in the Hudson's Bay brand, even if it's just nostalgia. That could be enough to preserve a small presence, stabilize its business and then grow again under new leadership. From what I've been seeing, there are signs of hope where there were none in early March.
Bayer
Senior Member
That's what Sears thought about Eaton's.
Northern Light
Superstar
True.
And any hope for 'The Bay' is dependent on the right operator, the right vision, and the requisite capital. The demolition that Richard Baker subjected this company to makes all of that quite the hill to climb, but its not impossible. TBD.
On the subject of Eaton's........ Sears Canada went with the wrong executive in charge, made some incredibly goofy choices.....and consequences followed.
Shrinking the number of stores for Eatons was a correct call, though they may have gone a bit too far. But it was a profound mistake to shrink the size of flagship locations like TEC whose strength was the space and scale to be destination retail.
Eatons had already surrendered - 2 below.........but Sears shaved 2 more floors off the top.......reducing what had been a 9 level store to only 6.
The terrible move to an all lower case store name.........made no sense either. I don't think that was material to the downfall, but it certainly didn't help.
Last edited:
nightstreak
Active Member
Eaton's.... uhh eaton's downfall can be assigned to a focus on the wrong demographic. The aubergine rebrand aimed at "upscale" in a market where that clientele wouldn't be caught dead in an Eaton's while the demographic who did go there scrunched their noses at the prices.
There were other peripheral contributing factors that you @Northern Light have pointed out, but overall, Eaton's bet the farm on becoming another Holt's, a mistake that I can see The Bay trying and failing at if Baker retains ownership. Hopefully new leadership brings fresh ideas and understands the demographic where The Bay has value and can succeed within.
Bayer
Senior Member
I bought large appliances there after the store was rebranded. Not sure where I would go now in the area. They also had nice furniture for a while and I made a few purchases in that department. I wouldn't have bought an Armani suit there, though.
But I don't shop in person anymore and I buy most of my clothes online from Simons. The Bay would need an online presence that it as least as good to replace their awful website.
lenaitch
Senior Member
My youth, and my parents, were the Eaton's/Simpsons/Simpsons-Sears generation. I suppose we might have gone to The Bay a few times but the sense back then was they were fairly upscale. Beyond their retail stores, Eaton's had a vast array of services that their customers could tap into. On top of that, they had a wide-spread, Canada-wide delivery service and easy, no-question return policy (and recall Simpsons had much the same but we didn't use them as much). Eaton's product line was durable stuff. To this day, my snow-blowing parka is Eatonia; I don't want to know how old that makes it.
Given changes in the retail landscape, both supply chain and customers, I'm not sure any similar company could have survived intact. Walmart expanded into smaller markets that none of the 'big stores' did, but they don't do delivery. Amazon has filled that niche but no bricks-and-mortar presence. That is still a gap for those who can't bring themselves to order clothing online.
Speaking of The Bay's demise:
Given changes in the retail landscape, both supply chain and customers, I'm not sure any similar company could have survived intact. Walmart expanded into smaller markets that none of the 'big stores' did, but they don't do delivery. Amazon has filled that niche but no bricks-and-mortar presence. That is still a gap for those who can't bring themselves to order clothing online.
Speaking of The Bay's demise:
Northern Light
Superstar
I disagree...ish....
I don't think it was wrong to take Eaton's upmarket....... Hudson's Bay initially had very good success w/that.......at a limited number of stores. That is absolutely the wrong strategy if you want to maintain 80+ locations, but a logical choice if curtailing to 9 to 20 outposts.
By the time Eaton's demise occurs.....it was financially damaged........it had bet the proverbial farm on a string of Eaton Centres in smaller cities like Sarnia..... that didn't go well........ they were behind the times on trends, the stores were
under-invested in and they were increasingly seen as that place your grandma shopped......plus they had tried the experiment in discount.... with Horizon stores (think Zellers/Walmart...).... and that didn't go well for them either.
They frankly were a family company (pre-Sears)......and the last generation of Eaton's just didn't want to be in retail and didn't have the knack for it and it showed.
When Sears salvaged it (briefly)....the vision was that that the smaller market and B-class stores weren't savable.....and for the most part, they were probably right.
The mid-market segment was shrinking with Walmart poaching from underneath along with Zellers et al........... While the high end market was going more to small boutiques, but also Holt's to a lesser degree.
They thought the remaining market was upper-middle.......one tier below Holts, and I think they were probably right......but should have kept a bigger toe-hold in mid-market price points.
To me, the problem then was disastrous re-branding........reducing the flagships in size so they couldn't be the very destination retail they were being positioned as, and probably ceded just a few too many good locations, weakening the brand unduly.
Suffice to say, they got plenty wrong.
lenaitch
Senior Member
Interesting article on the survival rate of family businesses:
nightstreak
Active Member
There are 18 parties interested in 65 of Hudson's Bay's leases. Looks like there's some steam left in this thing after all. That's a couple hundred million in capital if they pull it off., HBC had said $82 million would need to be invested into 6 stores to make the business viable again. Selling 65 leases would keep at least a dozen stores open.
Bayer
Senior Member
La Presse reports that Hudson's Bay has filed in court a document saying it will begin liquidation sales in the six remaining stores because there is little prospect of finding a buyer.
Jonny5
Senior Member
CBC has a story here:
"The six stores now joining the liquidation include the flagship on Yonge Street in Toronto, as well as a location in the city's Yorkdale Shopping Centre and another farther north in Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ont."