Redesigning the Bay's old retail spaces will come with challenges and opportunities

Tara Deschamps · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 01, 2025 4:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 23 minutes ago

When Hudson's Bay began liquidating each of its stores and hunting for a imaginable caller owner, Weihong (Ruby) Liu was determined not to fto Canada's oldest institution disappear. 

The B.C. promenade proprietor made an connection to buy the institution successful hopes of restoring it to its erstwhile glory, but erstwhile Canadian Tire was chosen (court support pending) to bargain its sanction and trademark stripes, Liu's program was foiled.

Yet she didn't springiness up. Instead, she brokered a deal to instrumentality implicit up to 28 of the leases held by Hudson's Bay and its sister Saks businesses successful Alberta, B.C. and Ontario and alteration them into "a caller modern section store."

But making the leap from imaginativeness to world won't beryllium easy, adjacent with her persistence and the billions of dollars reportedly astatine her fingertips.

WATCH | Liu acceptable to bargain Hudson's Bay leases: 

"There is simply a batch of research, a batch of planning, a batch of capital, a batch of logistical challenges, inventory, branding and radical that request to beryllium figured out," said Jenna Jacobson, the Eaton Chair successful Retailing astatine Toronto Metropolitan University.

Because Hudson's Bay sold disconnected its existent property years ago, Liu's archetypal task erstwhile the liquidation income extremity Sunday volition beryllium convincing the landlords who ain the monolithic spaces to get connected committee with her program oregon it's improbable a tribunal volition rubber stamp it.

Several landlords person told The Canadian Press they are awaiting much details earlier they determine what to bash astir Liu, who declined to remark for this story.

Don Gregor, an enforcement vice-president astatine Aurora Realty Consultants not progressive with the deal, suspects their support volition beryllium hard to win. 

He reasons that landlords similar to beryllium successful power and usually don't privation to person tenants selected for them, particularly tenants trying to prime up "trophy leases" that travel with the benignant of heavy concessions lone a concern arsenic storied arsenic the Bay could extract.

Many of those leases day backmost to the precise inception of the malls oregon properties and would apt person been renting to the Bay astatine "well-below marketplace [rates]," Gregor said. 

He besides figures they have clauses restricting what different tenants could determination successful and what other could beryllium built connected the site.

"(Landlords) would person loved if HBC had gone bankrupt and hadn't conscionable fallen isolated wholly and they conscionable get the abstraction backmost due to the fact that each the restrictions that anchor tenant held successful that aged lease would person gone away," helium said.

"Now, there's going to beryllium a negotiation, similar a creation betwixt the 2 parties, wherever they person a small spot of springiness and take."

Multiple malls successful B.C.

Liu volition travel to the array with plentifulness of concern experience. She is said to person made billions done existent property developments successful China earlier she headed to Canada. 

Once here, her Central Walk concern bought British Columbia malls Tsawwassen Mills, Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Centre, arsenic good arsenic Arbutus Ridge Golf Course.

The buying centres diagnostic plentifulness of Canadian promenade staples on with rarities similar Bass Pro Shops, L.L. Bean and adjacent café kiosks powered by robot baristas.

Gregor thinks Liu operates "very bully malls" but volition request a "wonder squad of lawyers" to beforehand a woody arsenic important and analyzable arsenic the Bay one.

One happening she'll person going for her is that landlords don't similar to permission large pieces of their properties successful limbo, said J.C. Williams Group retail strategist Lisa Hutcheson.

"In immoderate ways, she makes it easier for them to not person to beryllium worrying astir however they're going to capable that ample quadrate footage," she said.

WATCH | What led to the Bay's downfall: 

If they o.k. of Liu, they volition besides person idiosyncratic to enarthrosis repairs the Bay neglected to do, Hutcheson said. A fistful of its stores temporarily closed past summertime due to the fact that of aerial conditioning troubles and adjacent much person been plagued with breached escalators for years.

Gregor estimates it would outgo fractional a cardinal dollars to repair the HVAC strategy astatine conscionable 1 of the Bay's biggest locations. Elevator fixes oregon replacements could instrumentality a year, helium said.

And that's connected apical of the $100 to $150 per quadrate ft helium thinks volition person to beryllium spent — astatine minimum — to signifier the spaces.

"These stores are respective 100 1000 quadrate feet, and that takes a batch to reposition," Hutcheson agreed. 

She pointed retired La Maison Simons is spending astir 18 months transforming immoderate erstwhile Nordstrom locations successful Toronto.

"And that's with a afloat baked conception that they're going disconnected of," she said.

New retail concepts needed

Liu volition person to make a caller conception that tin spell head-to-head with long-established section stores similar Simons and Holt Renfrew and the plethora of options online. 

That volition apt mean brokering relationships with suppliers Hutcheson believes volition beryllium "a small spot nervous" due to the fact that they are inactive reeling from millions successful losses that came from the autumn of the Bay.

It volition besides mean hiring a ample workforce that volition give themselves to an untested marque and past merchantability it to customers. 

Liu has promised to springiness suppliers and vendors who worked with Hudson's Bay priority erstwhile selecting partners for her caller venture. She has besides said she volition prioritize hiring from the Bay's workforce, which stood astatine 9,364 unit earlier its demise. 

A Sunday station connected LinkedIn from Central Walk CEO Linda Qin said Liu flew into Toronto connected Saturday to interrogation 13 former Bay employees and prosecute 10, including immoderate with 30 years of experience.

"But betwixt present and erstwhile I expect (Liu's) doors volition open, volition beryllium a gap, and galore of them volition find jobs," Hutcheson said. 

WATCH | What's adjacent for Vancouver's retail sector? 

Despite the artillery of challenges Liu volition person to overcome, Jacobson said the efforts could beryllium worthy it for some her and her customers.

If Liu uses the accidental to reflector the overseas section store exemplary with caller brands, supermarkets, restaurants, salons, amusement and different integer experiences, Jacobson thinks Liu volition "usher successful a caller signifier of retail" the Canadian marketplace sorely needs.

"If you look astatine the Chinese section stores, they often enactment similar much of a destination successful and of themselves than what we typically spot successful a Canadian oregon North American market," Jacobson said.

"It's a destination wherever radical could walk a important magnitude of clip ... which is going to beryllium needed successful bid to person a palmy exemplary moving forward."