Latest news with #departmentstore
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Hudson's Bay asks court to force landlords to let B.C. billionaire take over leases
Billionaire Ruby Liu, centre, poses with her staff while holding a set of keys to a former Hudson's Bay-owned Saks Off 5th department store during a "handover ceremony" at Tsawwassen Mills shopping mall that she owns, in Tsawwassen, B.C., on Thursday, June 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck TORONTO — Hudson's Bay has solidified its faith in a controversial deal to sell leases to a B.C. billionaire by asking a court to force landlords critical of her to let her move in. A motion filed by the collapsed department store late Tuesday asked the Ontario Superior Court to reassign 25 of its leases to Ruby Liu. Fifteen of the leases cover properties in Ontario, including Fairview Mall, Sherway Garden, Bayshore Shopping Centre and Bramalea City Centre. The remaining 10 are split evenly between Alberta and B.C. and include West Edmonton Mall, CF Market Mall and Guildford Town Centre. The group of leases will cost Liu about $69 million, minus a litany of fees she has to pay as a condition of taking them on, the latest documents show. The Bay thinks Liu should get the leases because the deal will help it repay creditors, offer jobs to former Bay employees and fill vacant properties so landlords avoid 'the visual and economic blight of a 'dark' or empty store for a significantly prolonged period.' If landlords aren't forced to accept Liu, the company warns 'significant benefits and value creation … will be lost' and it will have to turn its former stores back over to landlords. The filing sets up the Bay for a fight that will pit it against some of the country's most prominent landlords, including Cadillac Fairview, Oxford Properties and Primaris. If it wins, Liu estimates the retailer will make a $50 million dent in the roughly $1.1 billion in debt it had when it filed for creditor protection in March. That process led the Bay to close all of its stores and start soliciting buyers for its leases. One dozen bidders made offers for 39 properties. Liu was designated the winner of the bulk of them. The Vancouver-based entrepreneur made her fortune in Chinese real estate and owns three B.C. malls, including the Woodgrove Centre and Mayfair Shopping Centre, which she is willing to sell to advance her push for the Bay leases. Liu inked two deals to buy a collective 28 leases that belonged to the Bay and its sister Saks stores in May. The first deal – for three leases at malls Liu owns – sailed through court with no opposition. The second became fraught shortly after it was announced, when landlords began meeting with Liu and found she had little information to share about her bid to open a new department store named after herself and replete with retail, dining, entertainment and recreational spaces. A package Liu sent landlords in early June, which was obtained by The Canadian Press, showed she thought she was capable of opening up to 20 stores within just 180 days of signing leases. It offered a vague financial budget and mentioned hiring efforts and meetings with prospective suppliers but did not name the potential vendors. Court records filed on Tuesday showed the initial package and meetings with Liu left Cadillac Fairview 'with the strong impression that Ms. Liu is making this up as she goes.' Primaris REIT felt her plans were 'predicated upon hope, optimism and not on experience.' New plans filed alongside the Bay's motion show Liu has taken another stab at a business roadmap. This time around she's budgeting $375 million for her venture and is looking at opening three tiers -- flagship, platinum and standard -- of a new, self-named department store. Though she has spoken repeatedly about putting dining, entertainment and recreational spaces into her stores, she promises to take on the leases 'as is.' 'Much has been made of my public comments around the retail concepts that I believe may appeal to modern shoppers,' Liu writes. 'However, this should not be taken as any intention to ignore the terms of the lease.' Liu says $120 million will be invested on 'overdue' repairs to roofs, HVAC systems, washrooms, elevators and escalators and $135 million on initial inventory. She projects her plan will create at least 1,800 new jobs and by 2027, generate more than $420 million in annual sales. Despite the landlords' opposition to the assignment of the leases to Liu, she says she is 'confident that my growing team (which will include former HBC executives) will be able to build fruitful and lasting relationships with them and their communities.' Liu's filing was made after 50 pages she sent to judge Peter Osborne – against the Bay's advice – were entered into the court record. They included two notes to Osborne sent a day apart that were appended with letters the Bay's lawyers and landlord lawyers sent to her and her counsel. The records show the Bay's lawyers heeded early criticism from landlords and started pressing Liu to prepare a more in-depth plan. They urged Liu to hire the retailer's former CEO Liz Rodbell as a consultant and KPMG as a financial adviser and bring back Miller Thomson as legal representation and offered to shave $3 million off the price of the leases, if she did so. The new business plan Liu filed Tuesday makes no mention of Rodbell or Miller Thomson but lists KPMG as a potential tax adviser and auditor. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Quebec-based department store Simons has announced the opening date for its first Toronto store
Customers walk into the Simons store at Londonderry Mall in Edmonton on Saturday, August 26, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson Quebec-based department store Simons will be officially opening its first Toronto location next month. The company announced this week that it will be opening its doors to customers at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre location on Aug. 14. The company previously announced plans to expand its brick-and-mortar footprint to both Yorkdale and The Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. Simons will partially occupy the space that was previously home to Nordstrom at both the Eaton Centre and Yorkdale after the retailer's exit from the Canadian marketplace in 2023. 'Simons is a bit of an enigma,' retail analyst Bruce Winder told CP24 on Friday. 'They've done very well. They've been very careful in terms of how they expand.' Including the expansion in Toronto, the department store currently only has about 17 locations across Canada. 'I think the thing that really drives Simons is they have incredible designs that are curated for customers and they are a little avant-garde,' he said. 'They have price-points that are very high but they also have very accessible price points.' Winder noted that with one store in the GTA already, located at Mississauga's Square One Shopping Centre, there is a bit of a risk opening two new Toronto stores. 'There is a little bit of a risk that they have too many stores in Toronto but if they do a good job, I think they can make it work,' he added. The company has not yet revealed when the Eaton Centre location will be opening, saying only that it is slated to open at the downtown shopping centre sometime in the fall of 2025 or the winter of 2026.
CBC
21-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Billionaire Ruby Liu holds job fair for future stores
Ruby Liu — the B.C.-based billionaire trying to take over former Hudson's Bay locations to create her own department store — held a job fair in Toronto over the weekend, even though she doesn't currently have access to any stores in Ontario.
The Sun
18-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
‘Broken' department chain launches 20% off clearance sale as it announces permanent closure of shopping centre store
AFTER nearly three decades of trading, a popular House of Fraser store is set to close. The department store in Victoria Centre, Nottingham, which first opened in 1997, will roll down the shutters in October this year. 1 It's bittersweet news for shoppers, who have been treated to a 20 percent off sale inside the store. The once-thriving shopping hub was nearly shut in 2022 after Fraser Group chief exec Michael Murray described the brand as a "broken business". At the time, he said: 'House of Fraser was a broken business when we bought it. "We've completely changed the operating model. It was mostly concession, the stores were way too big, they were under‑invested. "Our future vision is that House of Fraser will diminish and Frasers will grow.' Once boasting more than 60 stores across the UK, the department store has steadily shuttered locations since its 2018 acquisition by Mike Ashley's Frasers Group. Between 2022 and 2025 alone, over a dozen sites—including flagship locations like Oxford Street and regional mainstays in Cardiff, Cheltenham, and Nottingham—have closed their doors. The closures reflect a deeper failure to adapt to a rapidly evolving retail landscape. Many of its stores were oversized and heavily reliant on concessions—third-party brands renting space—which offered little control over stock or customer experience. Frasers Group is now repositioning itself around a new retail vision, investing in smaller-format 'Frasers' stores and upmarket lifestyle hubs, with sport and luxury offerings as its focus. The Sun has approached House of Fraser representatives for comment. House of Fraser is just one brand struggling against recent economic pressures and changes in consumer habits. A combination of rising inflation, energy costs, and interest rates has squeezed both household spending and business margins, creating a perfect storm for retail operators. For many consumers, essentials have taken priority over discretionary purchases, leading to a noticeable decline in footfall and in-store spending. Even major players with established reputations have found themselves forced to close stores, reduce staff, or pivot entirely toward e-commerce. This comes as Poundland bosses implemented a series of closures this year after the business was hit by spiraling operating costs and weakening footfall. In Cornwall, one Poundland was evicted from one of its locations - leaving staff locked out of work overnight. The budget chain was kicked out of its store on Fore Street in St Austell, CornwallLive reported. A bizarre notice was also posted in the window of the popular store. It read: "We as authorised agents acting on behalf of the above-named landlord have today re-entered these premises and any lease or licence is hereby determined. "Any attempt to enter these premises without the written authority of the above-named landlord will result in criminal/civil proceedings being taken." A Poundland spokesperson confirmed that the locks were changed overnight without notice. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
CTV News
16-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Hudson's Bay space at White Oaks Mall finds new life with pop-up events
Interior of an empty Hudson's Bay department store at White Oaks Mall in London, Ont. on July 16, 2025. (Reta Ismail/CTV News London) The sign for the iconic Hudson's Bay store came down inside White Oaks Mall Wednesday, and the space is now available for lease. 'We're thrilled to be able to find new uses for this incredible space that we have at the mall. It's been a staple, original part of the mall,' said Sarah Imrie, marketing manager at White Oaks Mall. Westdell Development Corporation, which owns and operates the mall, has begun actively leasing the 165,000-square-foot space. Spirit Halloween is moving in this week, followed by The Modern Market Series (TMMS), formerly known as The Modern Mom Show. 'We were actually approached by White Oaks Mall at our last event. They came to us offering this incredible empty department store for us to use,' said Sabrina Maulucci, founder of TMMS. EMPTY HUDSONS BAY Founder of The Modern Market Series (TMMS) Sabrina Maulucci, along with her husband Michael Macaluso Maulucci on July 16, 2025. (Reta Ismail/CTV News London) 'We have high requirements for our vendors to create a beautiful, boutique-like setting. When our guests come in, they can really feel welcomed and understand what all those businesses are about, versus just a tabletop setup. Our brands bring in big displays, and having ground-level access is amazing,' she said. The two Hudson's Bay locations in London officially closed on June 1. Now, the White Oaks location sits empty and ready for a new purpose. 'The reality is department stores are not as attractive in all markets as they used to be. So, we're taking over the space and really repurposing it to support the city, support the community, and support the mall in the best way possible,' said Imrie. One of those new uses will be the Modern Market Series, taking place Nov. 2 and 3, with thousands of visitors expected. Vendor applications open this Friday, July 18.
