TORONTO – Canoes, outdoor furniture, a pickleball set and towels are among the first products Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. has designed with the iconic Hudson’s Bay stripes.
The retailer revealed Wednesday its summer collection of 32 HBC items, which also includes point blankets, canvas bags, a beach chair, a cornhole game and various housewares.
The collection marks the first time Canadian Tire has put its own stamp on the HBC trademarks it bought for $30 million last year, when the 355-year-old retailer filed for creditor protection and closed its stores.
While Canadian Tire released striped merchandise — ornaments, stockings, nutcrackers and point blankets — in time for the holiday season last year, the products were entirely comprised of past HBC designs.
Eva Salem, Canadian Tire’s senior vice-president of marketing and brand, said reaction to that collection exceeded Canadian Tire’s expectations with some items selling out right away.
The summer collection is meant to build on that momentum.
“There’s some classics that we are bringing back and there’s some net new (items) that we were able to create fairly quickly that we think Canadians will be excited about,” Salem said in an interview.
The collection features beach, backyard and cottage staples, though kitchen items like mugs, oven mitts, aprons and pot holders are also in the mix.
Some of the products have received an upgrade from their previous HBC versions. The towels, for example, are now more chlorine-resistant and faster drying, Salem said.
Many of the items were also produced in Canada like the cedar canoe, Muskoka chair, outdoor cushions and decorative paddles.
The 16-foot canoe will set shoppers back almost $10,000 while a nine-foot version is priced at $6,000. They will be custom made because of the longer lead times it takes to produce a canoe.
“It’s a novelty item. We don’t expect to do a big volume on canoes, but it makes sense that we offered it,” Salem explained.
Point blankets, which will come in four sizes, will range from $350 for a twin to $530 for a king.
Most of the other items are more moderately priced with mugs going for $8 and outdoor cushions about $30.
All of the merchandise will be available starting May 1 at Canadian Tire stores and online. In another first, some products will also be sold through Mark’s, the clothing retailer also owned by Canadian Tire.
Elisha Ballantyne, a Toronto-based retail consultant who has worked for Target, Walmart and Zellers, thought the collection was a good mix of HBC staples and items that Canadian Tire is known for now with stripes.
It takes advantage of nostalgia and both brands’ strengths, but also includes trendy summer items like pickleball and cornhole sets, she said.
“I was a little surprised that they didn’t have more in the patio dining area like melamine dinnerware or patio glasses — things the Bay had offered that also fit really well with Canadian Tire,” Ballantyne said. “But you can only put out so many items to start with.”
With Mark’s also selling some of the items, she expected to see more apparel as well.
The challenge Canadian Tire has now is learning from this collection and maintaining the buzz, she said.
When it revealed its holiday collection, people flocked to stores because it was the first time Canadian Tire sold HBC products and the merchandise was only made in limited quantities.
“It’s different when it’s a limited time assortment that immediately triggers people to buy it before it’s gone, versus this is our summer assortment … that’s in Canadian Tire stores for three months,” Ballantyne said.
Moving forward, Salem expects Canadian Tire to sell seasonal HBC products that are more likely to sell out quickly but will also have more “evergreen items that people can count on finding most of the year, if not all of the year, eventually.”
She wouldn’t say what would be in future collections but said it would be “co-created with Canadians” who have flooded her company with suggestions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.
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