[nightstreak]

That branding definitely can use some work. Usually retail people are a bit more savvy...

Given that 'The Tire' now owns the names Hudson's Bay Company; and 'The Bay'....... I'm not sure their IP folks would keen on 'New Bay' from a competitor.

Even with a different font/colour......that's awfully close and would seem to imply an affiliation of sorts...

Yeah, that's definitely not going to fly. I'm sure this is a placeholder. There's also an apparent lost in translation factor going on here. It probably sounds better in Mandarin.

I do think it's worth considering that like Canadian Tire's public announcements, she might be playing to the judge. Her bids for 28 leases would be far more likely to succeed as a business if she has the IP. Calling it "New Bay" clearly indicates that she wanted to capitalize on the brand, not just the locations. I expect that she'll make a case to the court that her bid for that many stores should be paired with the IP. This is what the hearings are for, it's not just a rubber stamp.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I think the reason that people are finding the IP/branding acquisition so strange is because other than Mark's
(which is very practical basic casual clothing) Canadian Tire doesn't do "fashion", and all department stores have focused on fashion over the past 20 years.

I view it as a return to Hudson's Bay's roots - with a focus on the "outfitter" aspect of the historical business,
not the current fashion emphasis.

Hudson's Bay branding would work on:
- hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor gear (through Canadian Tire)
- outdoor clothing (similar to Eddie Bauer or LL Bean) (through Mark's)
- linens, housewares and homegoods (i.e. Gluckstein) (through Canadian Tire)
- garden and patio furniture (i.e. Gluckstein) (through Canadian Tire)

Think of this logo on Mark's outdoorsy clothing, not a "fashion" logo.

LOGOS + REBRANDS | Bye, Bye Bay; Hello Hudson

Morgan’s was purchased in 1960 by the Hudson’s Bay Company … In 1964, the stores in Ontario were converted into the new name, the Bay. At that point, the previous Morgan’s l…

designkultur.wordpress.com

This is it, at least in the short term. If there is any retailer who can pull it off it is Canadian Tire.

 

[lenaitch]

That branding definitely can use some work. Usually retail people are a bit more savvy...

Seeing as she is a billionaire and obviously a successful retail property owner, one would hope that she understands that imagery, marketing, logos, etc. that work in a region with a fairly weighed countries-of-origin population might not translate as well across the country.

 

[nightstreak]

A few things I'm following today leading up to the May 30th deadline for HBC to submit their slate of buyers for their assets:

- The court has not scheduled a hearing for Canadian Tire who announced their intention to acquire the IP more than a week ago. This supports my thought that the sales won't be decided individually on an asset by asset basis, and instead collectively which could mean Weihong Liu walks away with the Hudson's Bay name (even without Stripes, Gluckstein, Hudson North, Zellers, etc) along with the 28 leases and her intention to operate them as a department store chain.

- Not only is the sale of leases subject to court approval, the landlords need to agree to transfer those leases. They may not want to because The Bay has favourable terms, including grandfathered submarket rent, which is why the leases are worth anything at all. Oxford (Yorkdale) and Cadillac Fairview (Eaton Centre) could find tenants for their spaces and get out of low value contracts so they'll object. If Weihong Liu opens something other than "Hudson's Bay" and other than a department store and does not fill all the floors in the lease, then the landlords have cause to reject her bid to take over the leases.

- Ms. Liu is out of her mind if she thinks she can start an entire new department store chain of 28 stores without a recognized brand, without supplier agreements, without employee contracts, and without stores outfitted for retail. HBC is liquidating their displays and furniture. Also, virtually every store requires extensive renovations after years of neglect due to HBC's poor financial situation. Escalators alone will cost millions to bring up to a state of good repair.

For these reasons, I'm inclined to think that the court will grant one buyer the sale of a package of assets that enables them to run the store as Hudson's Bay. The court may even grant the sale of the company operations while wiping its debt because either way, nobody is going to wan to inherit that debt and selling the operations and the Hudson's Bay Company as a going concern will net creditors more than if the debt is allowed to expire with the company dissolution.

 

[matrix]

Ms. Liu is out of her mind if she thinks she can start an entire new department store chain of 28 stores without a recognized brand, without supplier agreements, without employee contracts, and without stores outfitted for retail.

Just occured to me- Ruby Liu is pretty much pulling a Target Canada without any pre-existing reputation. She IS out of her mind.

 

[RGB_11]

Just occured to me- Ruby Liu is pretty much pulling a Target Canada without any pre-existing reputation. She is out of her mind.

She's not (as of yet) showing intent to open up and shut right down again.

 

[TossYourJacket]

Yes it's BlogTO but some interesting stuff in here about the leases that were/weren't bid on. Ultimately, 62 locations received no bids for the leases. Also interesting is some of the restrictive conditions of the HBC leases for the mall owners (parking, no-build zones near stores).

https://www.blogto.com/fashion_style/2025/05/new-tenants-shuttered-ontario-hudsons-bay-locations/

 

[Northern Light]

Yes it's BlogTO but some interesting stuff in here about the leases that were/weren't bid on. Ultimately, 62 locations received no bids for the leases. Also interesting is some of the restrictive conditions of the HBC leases for the mall owners (parking, no-build zones near stores).

https://www.blogto.com/fashion_style/2025/05/new-tenants-shuttered-ontario-hudsons-bay-locations/

Those restrictions were quite standard back-in-the-day for anchor stores, they are written in to many old-school leases.

I know The Bay's lease at Fairview has that in it, I can't imagine Sherway wouldn't; I'm quite sure Yorkdale does as well.

Even the Eaton Centre is encumbered. They considered redeveloping in such a way that would reduce parking a number of years ago, my recollection is that their anchor retail leases had parking quotas, and so did some of the office tenancies.

 

[nightstreak]

I just finished reading through hundreds of pages of trademarks in the motion detailing HBC's intellectual property acquisition by Canadian Tire. Despite taking control of the Zellers slogan "BECAUSE...THE LOWEST PRICE IS THE LAW", Canadian Tire is not getting Zellers.

It's a very curious omission. Someone else is acquiring Zellers. Are we about to see Ruby Liu open 28 Zellers stores in Ontario, BC and Alberta? Or is there a secret purchaser? Won't be secret for long, they have to seek court approval by May 30th.

 

[RGB_11]

I just finished reading through hundreds of pages of trademarks in the motion detailing HBC's intellectual property acquisition by Canadian Tire. Despite taking control of the Zellers slogan "BECAUSE...THE LOWEST PRICE IS THE LAW", Canadian Tire is not getting Zellers.

It's a very curious omission. Someone else is acquiring Zellers. Are we about to see Ruby Liu open 28 Zellers stores in Ontario, BC and Alberta? Or is there a secret purchaser? Won't be secret for long, they have to seek court approval by May 30th.

Hmmm...we're not talking about Robert Moniz are we?
With Bay out of the way can he go full speed ahead with the claim (once again) that HE can now use the Zellers name? FROM 2021: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/zellers-moniz-family-hbc-1.6241397

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

It's a very curious omission. Someone else is acquiring Zellers. Are we about to see Ruby Liu open 28 Zellers stores in Ontario, BC and Alberta? Or is there a secret purchaser? Won't be secret for long, they have to seek court approval by May 30th.

Zellers does seem more on-brand for what Ruby Liu seems to be targeting with her retail vision.

 

[torontowest91]

Zellers does seem more on-brand for what Ruby Liu seems to be targeting with her retail vision.

LOL the new bay sign on paper matches zellers colours

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

2nd last day of liquidation at Hudsons Bay at Mapleview Mall, Burlington, Ontario. For men's most stuff was 90% off+additional 20% for what was left, Home stuff was 80% off, women's was also 90% off I believe and perfume was 80%+additional 20% off. Long lines at the perfume section as you'd imagine. Not much clothes left on sale, and quite a few people were buying fixtures...

 

[nightstreak]

I popped into Queen Street. Felt like a funeral. Staff had long faces, the place is hollowed out. Really sad.

Despite my empathy for the staff and the cultural heritage of the Bay, I would be lying if I said wasn’t kind of excited for this new chapter for this building that occupies an entire city block.

We’ll know for sure on Tuesday if Ruby Liu or Canadian Tire (or anybody) got the lease but I suspect that Cadillac Fairview is motivated to get out of this long term lease like Oxford who apparently has gotten Hudson’s Bay’s Yorkdale space back.

I wonder if CF will keep it empty for long or if we’ll see a quick announcement like Simon’s and Eataly were quickly announced after Nordstrom vacated.

 

[TossYourJacket]

I popped into Queen Street. Felt like a funeral. Staff had long faces, the place is hollowed out. Really sad.

Despite my empathy for the staff and the cultural heritage of the Bay, I would be lying if I said wasn’t kind of excited for this new chapter for this building that occupies an entire city block.

We’ll know for sure on Tuesday if Ruby Liu or Canadian Tire (or anybody) got the lease but I suspect that Cadillac Fairview is motivated to get out of this long term lease like Oxford who apparently has gotten Hudson’s Bay’s Yorkdale space back.

I wonder if CF will keep it empty for long or if we’ll see a quick announcement like Simon’s and Eataly were quickly announced after Nordstrom vacated.

Worth noting it was a year between the Nordstrom closing and the Simons TEC announcement. Which yes in retail terms is relatively quick, but yeah I doubt we get anything announced for this space for at least the next year (and I'd personally guess much longer than that) while CF figures out it's future.