TORONTO — An Ontario court has given Canada’s oldest company permission to liquidate all but six of its stores starting on Monday.
The approval from Ontario Superior Court judge Peter Osborne allows Hudson’s Bay to begin selling off inventory at the bulk of its 80 stores. The retailer also owns three Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 13 Saks Off 5th locations in Canada through a licensing agreement.
The six stores being saved from the liquidation sale include the flagship location on Yonge Street in Toronto, as well as a store in the city's Yorkdale mall and another at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ont. The remaining three span Montreal, the Carrefour Laval mall and Pointe-Claire, Que.
Hudson's Bay lawyer Ashley Taylor says the company was able to save the stores because recent sales have exceeded the company's expectations, allowing the retailer to keep operating six of the stores and pay back interim financing it received from a lender.
The company's financial troubles have led to a flurry of sales from customers looking to snap up its famed stripes products, for fear the retailer would close up shop for good.
The order gives the company the ability to pull additional stores out of the liquidation should the company find a way forward for even more locations, but also gives room to add the six to the sale, if a restructuring solution is not found very quickly.
Hudson’s Bay lawyers say the liquidation sales will wrap by June 15, though it didn't outline how deep the discounts may be. It will vacate the liquidated properties by June 30.
Osborne said he had no choice but to approve the liquidation plan.
"This is the art of the possible and we are where we are today. In my view, there is no other alternative.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2025.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
