Hudson’s Bay, Canada’s most iconic department store, is done as we know it, experts say.
On Thursday, Canadian Tire announced that it was purchasing Hudson’s Bay’s intellectual property for $30 million, including its name, logo and iconic multicoloured stripes. The move effectively ends any lingering hopes that a white knight would come in and rescue the famous retailer’s brick and mortar stores.
“The department store, as we know it is, is gone,” said Jenna Jacobson, associate professor of retail at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Ted Rogers School of Retail Management.
Unable to pay its bills, Hudson’s Bay filed for creditor protection in early March, and soon began liquidating its stores.
The Canadian Tire Corporation will get the the Bay’s full intellectual property “portfolio” including the centuries-old retailer’s name, coat of arms, logos, and designs for $30 million, the company announced in a press release Thursday. It was the winning bid out of 17, a move Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks called both “strategic” and “patriotic” in the press release.
The agreement is subject to court approval and other customary terms and conditions, and is expected to close this summer. It will also allow the company to sell products under the Hudson’s Bay banner.
Canadian Tire says it has separately bid for “a handful of lease locations.”
“I see almost no chance that the Hudson’s Bay company emerges out of this as a store,” said David Ian Gray, a retail strategist. “I have trouble seeing the business case.”
He likens the move to a sports team picking up a few players who still have some potential, but who have seen better days, at a discounted price.
“The traditional department store format that the Bay was operating is so archaic, it’s long past as its best before date,” he added.
Carl Boutet, chief strategist of Studio Rx, a retail strategy firm, said in an email that he suspects Canadian Tire will use Hudson’s Bay IP for core merchandise lines like towels. If anyone else wanted to revive any of the HBC retail brand, they would need to license the rights from Canadian Tire.
The sale allows Canadian Tire to lean into the brand nostalgia, and for Canadians to keep their emotional connection to the 355-year-old company, said Jacobson.
But unless Canadian Tire wins the leasing bid and decides to carry on with the department stores, which is unlikely, it’s “very much an end to the Hudson’s Bay as we know it, as a department store,” Jacobson added.
“It’s a big loss for the Canadian retail landscape, and it’s going to continue to have ripple effects as we figure out what is going to be happening with the massive physical footprints of these stores, because there’s not many players that can adopt those kind of a spaces,” she said.
Gray said it depends where the properties are. Some may be “chopped up” into smaller retail outlets, while others may “sit dark for a while,” especially in smaller markets.
He said the deal is a good move for Canadian Tire, but notes that not everyone shares in the nostalgia of the Bay. Gen Zs grew up as the stores started to decline.
“Not everyone’s going to flock to it,” he said. “Part of what they’re going to have to do is retell the story again.”
Asked about the future of the stores now that the IP has been snapped up, Tiffany Bourré, VP, Corporate Communications and Heritage for Hudson’s Bay, said in an email the brand agreement “is not part of the lease monetization process, which is still underway.”
Canadian Tire did not respond to a request on whether they intend to maintain any Hudson’s Bay stores, should they be successful in their bid.
