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Winnipeg Free Press
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Rising tension
The title of playwright David McLeod's self-secure and roof-raisingly funny new work, Elevate: Manaaji'idiwin, prepares the audience for a comedy defined by an inherited colonial divide. From an anglocentric perspective, the punctuation implies an interconnectivity between independent clauses. As a symbol of ratio, the colon expresses comparison and can also act as a stand-in for equal measure and reciprocity. It's assumed one side means the same as the other. But what's that thing they taught us about assumptions? Missed understanding and ceiling-shifting command is at the heart of Elevate: Manaaji'idiwin, which had its première Thursday on Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's mainstage after five years of development beginning in the company's Pimootayowin Creators Circle, an incubator for new plays by Manitoba-based Indigenous artists. DYLAN HEWLETT PHOTO Nolan Moberly and Kevin Klassen get to know eachother in the confined space of ELEVATE: Manaaji'idiwin. (Manaaji'idiwin doesn't translate directly to 'elevate,' but means 'to go easy on one another and all of Creation' and is commonly a reference to respect.) As far as theatrical framing goes, McLeod did himself a favour by constraining this land's most pressing conversation into a tinder box for two. Before the living, breathing characters enter, designer William Layton's fractal, fractured vision of downtown Winnipeg blues, the centrepiece of the production — a Mondrian-esque cage promoting dissent and descent — immediately flashes its potential as a metaphor for rising and falling action. The elevator is posed as a disruptive vehicle of industrialism, an invention defined by access. In downtown Winnipeg of the past, attendants in department stores, such as Eaton's or Hudson's Bay, decided who went where, and when. In an era resembling our own, a computerized interface called Sharon (Melissa Langdon) is the gatekeeper for this tower's 33 floors. Even as he jokes about his tendency to arrive fashionably late in accordance with 'Indian time,' Tallahassee (Nolan Moberly) is the first man on the scene; it's an indisputable fact. But from the moment he enters, Sharon's 'real-time optimization' is at odds with Tallahassee's presence. Trained by flawed humans, the artificial intelligence is predisposed to sound the intruder alarm. Moments after assuring Tallahassee that 'Indigenous rights are human rights,' the interface threatens his removal and calls into question his stability, despite having no reason other than learned bias to do so. Who taught the machine to hate like that? Built on an experience the local playwright had in his early 20s, when he was clocked as a threat based solely on appearance and identity, this opening scene greases the cogs for a subtle yet scathing critique of militaristic, racist and technocratic securitization, which tends to serve as a means of protection for those who believe they have more to lose than those who have already faced the loss of everything they'd ever cherished. DYLAN HEWLETT PHOTO Nolan Moberly (left) and Kevin Klassen's actions evolve to play with tropes from science fiction and racist 1970s westerns. Enter Harrison T. Jones (Kevin Klassen), a lawyer who is late for a very important date in the profit-driven wonderland of the 33rd floor. 'Excuse me,' he tells Tallahassee as he crosses the threshold into the ensuing ethical cage match. 'You're kind of in my way.' More concerned with the implications of the next contract than the ramifications of first contact, Jones is a strawman convinced he's a brick house. 'I'm gonna end this little exchange before it turns into a conversation,' says the custom-suited solicitor, a woefully lonely man who's never been suitable for equal partnership. This dismissal is nothing new for Tallahassee, who walks with the clarity of a man who's counted every courthouse step and knows not to be fooled by a Faustian handshake. (Both characters, costumed by Amy McPherson, use clothing as security blanket.) 'I'm visiting a white guy,' Tallahassee tells a friend before losing cell reception, revelling in making Jonesie squirm. 'He's got a very small place. No kitchen, no windows, no toilet and no running water. Still nicer than yours.' With expert direction from Herbie Barnes, Elevate: Manaaji'idiwin is sly and knowing, a city play that should reach the highest offices of any corporation espousing reconciliation in its words, but denying lived truth in its actions. Sharply rendered, McLeod's script, though long, never wastes time, gleefully dancing through dreamscape, family history and folkloric, magical realism. As lines are drawn on the suddenly shared territory, the characters' actions evolve to play with tropes from science fiction (a flux capacitor is referenced) and 1970s western 'redsploitation.' 'Your attitude is burning both sides of my bannock,' Tallahassee scowls, transforming into his alter-ego, Billy Jack, whose jean jacket is his bulletproof vest. (Sharon provides an IMDb logline for the 1971 film about a part-Navajo antihero, played by white actor Tom Laughlin, to assist the uninitiated.) Soon, the characters are engaged in a rap battle, having a ball while brawling their way to the top. DYLAN HEWLETT PHOTO The play's centrepiece is a Mondrian-esque cage promoting dissent and descent. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. 'Are we fighting on the three or the four?' Jonesie asks, establishing ground rules while simultaneously alluding to the fact that he doesn't know which treaty land he stands on. If there's any critique to be made about this production, it might be that Tallahassee's grace and capacity to work within and around Jonesie's racist anachronisms is otherworldly, and therefore, unrealistic. Indeed, when the characters eventually meet at eye level against visual artist Peatr Thomas's monumental, gorgeous backdrop, a few groans were stifled in the theatre's lower bowl. 'Personally, I can believe a fairy tale if it connects,' Jonesie says, after finally giving Tallahassee the last word. 'A red thread,' Tallahassee says. 'This is a good sign, Jonesie.' Ben WaldmanReporter Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University's (now Toronto Metropolitan University's) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben. Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
HBC's looming liquidation conjures ghost of Eaton's demise
Hudson's Bay Co. ULC's looming liquidation is eerily familiar to Hap Stephen, the veteran restructuring executive who has shepherded a number of high-profile companies through such difficulties, including the last gasps of another iconic Canadian retailer, T. Eaton Co. Ltd., better known simply as Eaton's. 'I'm not surprised,' he said less than a minute into a phone call to talk about what went wrong at HBC and what comes next. 'This is a replay of what I went through at Eaton's.' First came the court filing for protection from creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, then the liquidation process, which is set to begin at Hudson's Bay as soon as the court overseeing the creditor protection process gives the nod, which could come as soon as Wednesday afternoon. Stephen had an up-close view of Eaton's collapse in the late 1990s, first as a restructuring expert and then as the company's chief financial officer trying to navigate difficulties that followed the initial restructuring and public share offering. The final stumble into creditor protection came two years after the first, when a deal to be scooped up by a retail chain in the United States fell through. Eaton's creditors took a haircut in the liquidation, but a handful of stores survived thanks to retail rival Sears Co., which bought them and kept them open in large part to capture the benefits of accrued tax losses at Eaton's, Stephen said. 'The landlords were part of the creditor group, and they were happy to have Sears continue to operate the stores for those particular (locations),' he said. Stephen said Hudson's Bay finding a similar solution to rescue some of its 96 Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off Fifth stores is very unlikely. The tax-loss play that drew Sears into taking over some of the failing Eaton's stores could only work for HBC if it could find a willing buyer in the same sector, which is a much greater challenge some 25 years after the demise of Eaton's since shopping continues to increasingly move online. Sears Canada itself filed for creditor protection in 2017 and all its Canadian stores were closed by 2018. 'I don't see who could operate the stores,' Stephen said. 'You couldn't take them over and make them a movie theatre and use the tax loss.' Nor does he predict much success in finding tenants to take over the leases and subleases in malls and shopping centres dotted across the country. 'We looked at what we could do with the properties, and there wasn't a lot you could really do,' he said, recalling the Eaton's store locations that weren't taken over by Sears. The real estate devoted to retail chains such as Eaton's and the Bay, which sometimes occupy more than one level, is notoriously difficult to fill with another tenant, particularly if the landlord has restrictions on what type of business can be a tenant, Stephen said. Sometimes, these restrictions involve avoiding competition with other stores in the mall or shopping centre. 'You … have to conform with whatever's in your lease with the landlord,' he said. 'How much … could you put in that's not already there? It's a really difficult problem.' Court filings by HBC say some of its leases are below market value, suggesting they could have value if another tenant were to assume them. Jones Lang LaSalle Real Estate Services Inc. has been retained by HBC, pending court approval, to help the ailing retailer market its store and distribution centre leases. However, Stephen said that while 'anchor' tenants can get a substantial discount on lease rates because they are understood to bring shoppers into the mall and benefit other tenants, a landlord is unlikely to extend such favourable terms to a new tenant, especially one selected by an ailing department store. Instead, the landlord could simply wait the process out and start fresh with another company. 'Unless … the Bay pays the landlord, the landlord takes over the property,' he said. 'This is (then) his property and there's no lease on it, so he could do anything he wants.' Some insolvencies play out well for creditors when there is real estate in the mix, but Stephen, who also oversaw the process at steelmakers Essar Steel Algoma Inc. and Stelco Inc., as well as Athlete's World Ltd. and CanWest Global Communications Corp., said he doesn't see that for HBC. For one thing, the company houses much of its real estate in a separately financed company in the United States that was created at the end of last year. 'They took out a lot of the real estate,' he said. 'It wouldn't help the Canadian operations.' The newly formed U.S. company, Saks Global, which includes Saks, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus stores in the U.S., is not part of the Canadian court-monitored proceedings now underway. A December news release issued when HBC closed the acquisition of luxury department store Neiman Marcus said Saks Global would house 'flagship properties with a US$7-billion gross asset value portfolio in luxury markets.' It described the now standalone Canadian entity as owning or leasing a real estate portfolio valued at $2 billion, with some of that in a joint venture with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. Court filings say there are 12 'freehold' and 'head leasehold' properties in the HBC-RioCan joint venture. The stores on these properties in cities including Montreal and the Greater Toronto Area are leased or subleased from the joint venture or its subsidiaries. The filings say HBC has a number of landlords outside the joint venture, including the real estate subsidiaries of some of Canada's largest pensions: the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board's Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd.; OMERS-owned Oxford Properties Group; and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec's Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. Hudson's Bay back in court as RioCan calls filing disappointing Once an iconic store, what's next for Canada's Hudson's Bay? Stephen said the court filings show that some of HBC's Canadian properties carry debt, second mortgages in some cases, so he isn't convinced the real estate holdings will shake out well for creditors of its Canadian operations. He is more hopeful about recoveries from the liquidation sales of clothing and other goods. 'They could make a pretty good recovery on it if it goes well,' he said. '(In) the liquidation of Eaton's … the creditors ended up doing OK; much better than most insolvencies.' • Email: bshecter@
CBC
18-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Hudson's Bay's demise marks the death of the traditional department store in Canada
Social Sharing The Hudson's Bay in downtown Vancouver already looks like it's going out of business. When entering the store, shoppers are greeted by warning signs that neither the store's elevators nor escalator work, and they must use the fire exit stairs. Employees aimlessly patrol fragrance and cosmetic booths with no customers in sight. Hudson's Bay was, for decades, a major shopping destination, offering multiple floors of fashion, accessories, furniture and appliances. But now, it's likely to meet the same fate as other big department stores in Canada like Eaton's and Sears, which have already closed their doors due to slow sales and mountains of debt. Hudson's Bay is still holding out hope it will secure enough financing to stay afloat and restructure. But a more likely scenario is that the deeply indebted retailer will soon shut down, and start liquidation sales as early as this week. Smaller versions of the department store model are still thriving, such as discount chain Walmart and Canadian fashion retailer, Simons. But the iconic department store with window displays and several floors of varied merchandise is coming to a close in Canada. Some experts say the reason, at its core, is simple: These retail giants got stuck in tradition and didn't change with the times. "They were trying to work with an outdated model," said retail strategist David Ian Gray. "It just, overtime, became archaic." That sentiment is echoed by shoppers who feel bad for the Bay — and don't shop there. "It's kind of sad that they're going out of business," said David Genio outside the Bay in downtown Vancouver. But in the next breath, he added: "Their stuff is a little outdated I find and catered towards older people." Outside the Bay in downtown Toronto, Cathy McCabe-Lokos agrees that the chain's demise is sad. But she also admits that the location "has been empty, kind of desolate for years." The encroaching specialty shop Toronto's Eaton Centre shopping mall is a microcosm for the demise of the traditional department store. It opened 1977 with Eaton's as its anchor — one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time. However, Eaton's declared bankruptcy in 1999, after more than 100 years in business. Department store giant Sears took over the space until 2017, when it met a similar fate and shut down. U.S.-based Nordstrom then took over until 2023, when it pulled out of Canada due to lagging sales. Gray says, starting in the 1990s, two big shopping trends aided the demise of the traditional department store: the growth of e-commerce and specialty shops. He says department stores allowed shoppers to browse a large selection of merchandise, and gave them access to coveted brands smaller stores didn't carry. But the emergence of online shopping allowed many brands to bypass department stores and sell directly to shoppers. It also meant Canadians could check out what's for sale without leaving their house. WATCH | Bay plans to liquidate, close all stores: Hudson's Bay plans to liquidate business, close all stores 1 day ago Duration 2:07 Hudson's Bay Company says it will start liquidating its entire business and begin the process of closing all its stores, pending court approval. The announcement comes just days after the company applied for creditor protection. "The idea of going to a department store and spending a couple hours just to keep current was completely irrelevant," said Gray, founder of DIG360 Consulting in Vancouver. "We stopped window shopping." The growth of specialty retailers — like Ikea for furniture and Best Buy for electronics — also hurt the omnibus department store. They got "kicked at by specialty stores… that did it better and offered better range, and better value, and better servicing," said retail analyst and author, Bruce Winder. He cites as an example Sears, which used to be a go-to place for appliances. "They were number one, right? And then Home Depot started eating their lunch," he said of the U.S.-based home improvement retailer, which arrived in Canada in 1997. WATCH | Simons opening stores while others shut down: Retailer Simons is opening stores when others are shutting down 9 months ago Duration 2:01 Winder says the versions of the department store that still thrive in Canada, such as Walmart and dollar stores, still appeal to shoppers because their varied goods are priced at a discount. "The concept of having many different categories under one store is not forbidden. It's not bad, but you have to have the right price point," said Winder. If you don't, he said, shoppers will trek to specialty stores where they'll typically pay more, but get added customer service. "At the Bay, if I saw a design from Gucci, well, I can just go to the Gucci store and get it," said Winder. "The expertise is better and the pricing is the same." Simons moves in Sometime this year, Quebec-based retailer Simons is set to move into part of that ill-fated empty space in the Eaton Centre once inhabited by Eaton's, then Sears, then Nordstrom. Retail experts predict Simons may have better success because, by selling only clothing and housewares, it's more of a specialty than a department store. Also, many items Simon sells are private-labels shoppers can't find elsewhere. The retailer's model is perhaps one traditional department store giants should have considered when they began losing shoppers. But, as Gray points out, it's hard to reinvent the wheel when when your model was successful for decades.
CBC
17-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Hudson's Bay closure would be 'quite a loss' for Canadians, says retail expert
Plans by Hudson's Bay's to liquidate its entire business and close all of its stores is 'another blow' for Canadians who have seen the end of other department store chains like Sears and Eaton's, says Craig Patterson, founder and publisher of retail media site Retail Insider. 'In North America, I think the department store model is pretty much, for the most part, dead.'
