When Hudson’s Bay began liquidating all of its stores and hunting for a potential new owner, Weihong (Ruby) Liu was determined not to let Canada’s oldest company disappear.
The B.C. mall owner made an offer to buy the company in hopes of restoring it to its former glory, but when Canadian Tire was chosen (court approval pending) to buy its name and trademark stripes, Liu’s plan was foiled.
Yet she didn’t give up. Instead, she brokered a deal to take over up to 28 of the leases held by Hudson’s Bay and its sister Saks businesses in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario and transform them into “a new modern department store.”
But making the jump from vision to reality won’t be easy, even with her persistence and the billions of dollars reportedly at her fingertips.
Billionaire mall owner looks to buy up to 28 Hudson’s Bay leases
“There is a lot of research, a lot of planning, a lot of capital, a lot of logistical challenges, inventory, branding and people that need to be figured out,” said Jenna Jacobson, the Eaton Chair in Retailing at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Because Hudson’s Bay sold off its real estate years ago, Liu’s first task once the liquidation sales end Sunday will be convincing the landlords who own the massive spaces to get on board with her plan or it’s unlikely a court will rubber stamp it.
Several landlords have told The Canadian Press they are awaiting more details before they decide what to do about Liu, who declined to comment for this story.
Don Gregor, an executive vice-president at Aurora Realty Consultants not involved with the deal, suspects their approval will be hard to win.
He reasons that landlords like to be in control and usually don’t want to have tenants selected for them, especially tenants trying to pick up “trophy leases” that come with the kind of deep concessions only a business as storied as the Bay could extract.
Many of those leases date back to the very inception of the malls or properties and would likely have been renting to the Bay at “well-below market [rates],” Gregor said.
He also figures they have clauses restricting what other tenants could move in and what else could be built on the site.
“(Landlords) would have loved if HBC had gone bankrupt and hadn’t just fallen apart totally and they just get the space back because all the restrictions that anchor tenant held in that old lease would have gone away,” he said.
“Now, there’s going to be a negotiation, like a dance between the two parties, where they have a little bit of give and take.”
Liu will come to the table with plenty of business experience. She is said to have made billions through real estate developments in China before she headed to Canada.
Once here, her Central Walk business bought British Columbia malls Tsawwassen Mills, Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Centre, as well as Arbutus Ridge Golf Course.
The shopping centres feature plenty of Canadian mall staples along with rarities like Bass Pro Shops, L.L. Bean and even café kiosks powered by robot baristas.
Gregor thinks Liu operates “very good malls” but will need a “wonder team of lawyers” to advance a deal as significant and complex as the Bay one.
One thing she’ll have going for her is that landlords don’t like to leave big pieces of their properties in limbo, said J.C. Williams Group retail strategist Lisa Hutcheson.
“In some ways, she makes it easier for them to not have to be worrying about how they’re going to fill that large square footage,” she said.
What went wrong with Hudson’s Bay?
If they approve of Liu, they will also have someone to shoulder repairs the Bay neglected to do, Hutcheson said. A handful of its stores temporarily closed last summer because of air conditioning troubles and even more have been plagued with broken escalators for years.
Gregor estimates it would cost half a million dollars to repair the HVAC system at just one of the Bay’s biggest locations. Elevator fixes or replacements could take a year, he said.
And that’s on top of the $100 to $150 per square foot he thinks will have to be spent — at minimum — to shape the spaces.
“These stores are several hundred thousand square feet, and that takes a lot to reposition,” Hutcheson agreed.
She pointed out La Maison Simons is spending about 18 months transforming some former Nordstrom locations in Toronto.
“And that’s with a fully baked concept that they’re going off of,” she said.
Liu will have to generate a new concept that can go head-to-head with long-established department stores like Simons and Holt Renfrew and the plethora of options online.
That will likely mean brokering relationships with suppliers Hutcheson believes will be “a little bit nervous” because they are still reeling from millions in losses that came from the fall of the Bay.
It will also mean hiring a large workforce that will devote themselves to an untested brand and then sell it to customers.
Liu has promised to give suppliers and vendors who worked with Hudson’s Bay priority when selecting partners for her new venture. She has also said she will prioritize hiring from the Bay’s workforce, which stood at 9,364 staff before its demise.
A Sunday post on LinkedIn from Central Walk CEO Linda Qin said Liu flew into Toronto on Saturday to interview 13 former Bay employees and hire 10, including some with 30 years of experience.
“But between now and when I expect (Liu’s) doors will open, will be a gap, and many of them will find jobs,” Hutcheson said.
The Bay’s downfall raises questions for Vancouver’s downtown retail sector
Despite the battery of challenges Liu will have to overcome, Jacobson said the efforts could be worth it for both her and her customers.
If Liu uses the opportunity to mirror the overseas department store model with new brands, supermarkets, restaurants, salons, entertainment and other digital experiences, Jacobson thinks Liu will “usher in a new form of retail” the Canadian market sorely needs.
“If you look at the Chinese department stores, they often act like more of a destination in and of themselves than what we typically see in a Canadian or North American market,” Jacobson said.
“It’s a destination where people could spend a significant amount of time … which is going to be needed in order to have a successful model moving forward.”
