Canada's oldest company to liquidate all but 6 stores starting Monday

TORONTO (AP) — An Ontario court on Friday gave Hudson’s Bay, Canada’s oldest company, permission to start liquidating all but six of its stores on Monday.

The approval from Ontario Superior Court Judge Peter Osborne allows the retailer, which dates back to 1670, to begin selling off inventory at most of its 80 Hudson’s Bay stores, three Saks Fifth Avenue locations and 13 Saks Off 5th shops in Canada.

“This is the art of the possible and we are where we are today. In my view, there is no other alternative,” Judge Osborne said.

The Canadian retail icon retailer was founded as a trading firm for furs and other goods. The company became part of Canada’s social fabric, and was famous for its trademark product: a thick, wool blanket that has warded off frigid Canadian winters for hundreds of years.

It is part of the national lore of rugged “voyageurs” exploring the vast landscape while fighting and trading with Indigenous people.

The six stores being saved from the liquidation sale include the flagship on Yonge Street in Toronto, as well as a store in the city’s Yorkdale mall and another farther north in Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ontario The remaining three span Montreal, the Carrefour Laval mall and Point-Claire, Quebec.

The company didn’t say how deep discounts will be during the liquidation running until June 15. It will vacate all liquidating stores by June 30.

The move could save some of the 9,364 jobs that would have been lost had the company moved to liquidate all of its stores, which was the plan until recent sales exceeded expectations, allowing for it to keep six alive.

“If a solution can be found, there is an opportunity to pull additional stores out of the liquidation, but if a restructuring solution is not found very quickly, (the six) will be added to the liquidation sale,” Hudson’s Bay lawyer Ashley Taylor said in court Friday.

The ruling marks a glimmer of hope for the company, which filed for creditor protection on March 7. The request showed the company was facing significant financial challenges and was desperately in need of cash to continue making even basic payments that sustain the business.

While it suffered from reduced consumer spending, Canada-U.S. trade tensions and a post-pandemic slide in downtown store traffic, it deferred payments to landlords and suppliers and eventually had to resort to seeking financing, which pushed it toward liquidation.

Six stores are now able to be saved because the looming liquidation triggered a flurry of sales from customers looking to snap up Hudson’s Bay’s famed stripes products and other home goods and apparel.

Taylor said Friday the company will continue to “work hard” to find a “more long-term solution” for its financial woes, but warned the window to achieve this “remains very short.”

While the company carries out the work, it will start a sales process for assets like its leases and Canadians will see deals at stores set to be gutted.

All sales will be final at the liquidating stores, Hudson’s Bay says.