A Chinese billionaire in British Columbia has taken to social media to announce her plans to buy dozens of Hudson’s Bay locations after she saw “Canadians feeling sad” over the collapse of the retail giant.
Entrepreneur Weihong Liu is the board chairwoman of Central Walk, a retail investment company that owns three shopping centres in B.C.
Liu has shared a series of videos on the Chinese social media platform RedNote, saying she wants to “restore The Bay to its glory.”
“Knowing that The Bay, this national brand that carries Canada’s history, will collapse, I can’t stand by and watch, you must do your best to do something, to save it, to let the Canadian spirit continue,” Liu said in Mandarin. “Let the young generation in Canada fall in love with The Bay again.”
Liu set out her business plans to purchase many of the stores on a whiteboard in one of her videos, saying The Bay has hundreds of years of history and she doesn’t want to see it collapse.
“So, we Canadians need to unite together, we need to revitalize the retail, and solve employment, create miracles.”
The videos show her touring The Bay locations, from Toronto to Calgary, alongside B.C.-based real estate agent Linda Qin.
Hudson’s Bay’s roots go back to 1670 as a fur trading company with its first department store opening in Winnipeg in 1881, then expanding across the country.
The Bay will be liquidating all but six of its 80 stores, as well as its three Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 13 Saks Off 5th locations in Canada that it owns through a licensing agreement.
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Liu said in a video posted last month that she would submit her proposal for The Bay’s assets within days.
Binding bids for the company’s assets or investments in the business are due April 30, while those wanting the leases have to make an offer by May 1.
Liu couldn’t be reached for an interview, while Qin told The Canadian Press in a text message on Tuesday that they will have more announcements coming.
HBC spokesperson Tiffany Bourré declined to comment on the bid.
The process to off-load Hudson’s Bay and Saks leases is being overseen by Alvarez & Marsal, a third-party appointed by the court to guide Hudson’s Bay through creditor protection, and real estate broker Oberfeld Snowcap Inc.
Neither replied to a request for comment asking whether they’d received an expression of interest from Liu.
A second process to find buyers or investors for The Bay’s other assets, which may include rights to its famed Stripes trademark or even its art, is being run by Alvarez & Marsal and Reflect Advisors, Hudson’s Bay’s financial adviser.
Adam Zalev, Reflect’s managing director, said in an email, “It is not appropriate for us to comment while the sale process is ongoing.”
Retail analysts say this will be an uphill battle for Liu.
Founder and publisher of Retail Insider Craig Patterson has seen one of Liu’s videos online, and said she “could just be somebody wanting good social media attention.”
Patterson said it would be a difficult to revive the stores, since investors first need to find vendors willing to sell products to them, and in this case, the merchants would prefer to have cash on delivery, rather than being paid afterwards.
He said to make the chain viable as a retailer for vendors, Liu will need to have at least 15 locations.
“And then it would take, obviously, money to renovate stores and to have the product,” said Patterson.
He noted that one of Liu’s properties, Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Nanaimo, has been listed for sale.
Colliers Canada is promoting the centre on its website.
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J.C. Williams Group retail strategist Lisa Hutcheson said getting buy in from suppliers for any potential investor would be difficult.
“I think that’s a big risk right now is that these suppliers are really scrambling themselves to get paid,” said Hutcheson, adding that restoring these relationships would require “a lot of trust.”
Revisiting the business strategy is also important, she said, since buying the store and keeping it all the same will only make the store “another redundant brand at the moment.”
“I don’t think it’s just an easy like, I’m going to buy this and keep it open. There will definitely still need to be some work to understand its relevancy in the market, even though we’ve only had this one person sort of be public about their plans,” said Hutcheson.
