Court docs offer peek at trove of Hudson's Bay trademarks Canadian Tire would now own

Included in the 350-page trove of trademarks are rights to the retailer’s original name: the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay.

When it operated under that name, it was given a coat of arms made up of four beavers, two elks and a fox along with the motto “pro pelle cutem,” a Latin phrase meaning roughly, “a pelt for a skin.”

As part of the proposed sale, Canadian Tire will get the rights to the coat along with some more modern vestiges of the 355-year-old brand.

For example, the trove includes the rights to “Bay Days” — the name of the retailer’s most famous sales period — along with trademarks for its household goods brands Distinctly Home and its apparel brand Hudson North.

Also in the mix are trademarks for now defunct household goods retailer Home Outfitters, the Bay’s famed luxury business The Room, its Toronto event facility Arcadian Court and private labels Nordic Fleece, Beaumark Appliances and Black Brown 1826.

Then, there are the taglines.

Canadian Tire will own the Zellers “Lowest price is the law” slogan, as well as “Shopping is good,” “More than you came for,” “Everything under the sun” and “Bring it home.”

There are also many trademarks like “Official store of Christmas,” “Christmas street” and “the official Christmas book of gift ideas,” which were likely used to market its holiday window displays and catalogues.

Hearkening back to its days running department store photo studios are rights to phrases like “Canada’s cutest baby,” “the official photographer of growing up” and “the official photographer of winning smiles.”

Rounding out the group are trademarks like “1st Auto,” “Bay Optical,” “Bay Flowers,” and “Pharmamart,” which alludes to other lines of business that the Bay has largely decamped.

In addition to trademarks, the assets include domain names and social media user accounts. Most of the domains, or website addresses, relate to the Bay and parts of its business, but some are broader like everyday.ca, mom.ca, request.ca, stuff4school.com and managingyourcareer.ca.

There are also domains linked to Kleinfeld, the upscale wedding gown salon it ran at some stores, as well as Galeria Kaufhof, the German department store the Bay once owned.

Another standout is redmittens.ca, which is likely a reference to the wintergear the Bay sells annually, building on the popularity of its Vancouver 2010 Olympic mittens.

Finally, it also owns domains like “hudsonsbaycompany.sucks,” “thebay.sucks” and “hbc.sucks” which may have been measures the company took to protect its brand.

Filings say Hudson’s Bay will ask a court to approve the sale of such domains, along with the trademarks on June 3 as part of the main transaction.

To win the trademarks, Canadian Tire beat out 16 other people or companies that made offers, including 13 that wanted the Bay’s intellectual property, documents say.

Some bids didn’t meet the Bay’s requirements. Others were “indistinguishable,” causing the company running the sales process to seek and obtain modifications “to improve them where possible.”

After reviewing the amount being offered, “the speed, value and certainty of the transaction,” what would be included or omitted from a deal and the timing of the offer, Hudson’s Bay and its advisers determined Canadian Tire had the “most favourable” bid.

“In addition, the Canadian Tire Bid will allow for the Company’s iconic marks and intellectual property to be utilized by another of Canada’s iconic retailers ensuring that an important part of the Company’s legacy will continue into the future,” said an affidavit from the Bay’s new chief financial officer Michael Culhane.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.