Layoffs, logos, leases: What the latest release of Hudson's Bay court docs revealed

Toronto Star

5 days ago

TORONTO - Hudson's Bay made a whopping, 590-page court filing late Monday that offers insight into how Canada's oldest company is winding down.
Here are some of the new things the document revealed:
Trademarks
Canadian Tire will get the rights to 350 pages of trademarks and domain names belonging to Hudson's Bay if the $30 million deal the retailers brokered gets court approval.
Included in the trademarks are rights to several variations of the multicolored stripe motif, the Hudson's Bay name, its coat of arms, its Distinctly Home brand, its luxury fashion business The Room and its Hudson North apparel line.
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There are also tag lines like 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.'
Private labels Nordic Fleece, Beaumark Appliances and Black Brown 1826 also make an appearance on the list as do advertising lines like 'Official store of Christmas' and 'the official photographer of growing up.'
The domains include website addresses connected to the Bay and its businesses but also everyday.ca, mom.ca, stuff4school.com and redmittens.ca.
Stripes
As part of the intellectual property deal, Canadian Tire will take over a contract the Bay had with Pendleton Woolen Mills, an Oregon-based blanket and clothing maker.
The Bay and Pendleton disagreed about the use of some multistripe and 'point' motifs, a 2009 settlement and trademark licensing agreement filed in court shows. To end the spat, Hudson's Bay granted Pendleton a 'perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide non-exclusive trademark license.'
Layoffs
When the 80 Hudson's Bay and 16 Saks stores close by June 1, more than 8,300 workers will have lost their jobs.
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The job cuts will leave about 1,000 staff to work two additional weeks to let people pick up furniture and fixtures they bought and help the retailer vacate its properties.
After June 15, about 118 employees will remain with 50 dedicated to the company's retail operations, 58 in its corporate division and 10 at distribution centres.
Leases
After filing for creditor protection in March, Hudson's Bay started looking for businesses wanting to take over its leases.
It received 12 offers for 39 leases, including 28 covered by a deal it recently inked with B.C. mall owner Ruby Liu.
That deal still needs landlord consent and court approval.
Art and artifacts
Hudson's Bay has 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts, including the royal charter that birthed the business.
It has court permission to begin exploring an auction of the items but Indigenous communities and some governments fear the pieces up for sale might include sacred or cultural items.
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Hudson's Bay now says the pieces have been catalogued and government entities, public institutions and Indigenous stakeholders are being invited to sign non-disclosure agreements to view the virtual database.
The company has yet to settle on processes that will guide how the auction will run.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.