Featured Hudson Bay Co liquidation ?

Just heard on public radio today that the Hudson Bay Co is filing for creditor protection. There was a mention of them possibly selling off thousands of historical artifacts from their collection.This would be no small impact on Canadian or world history because the company was formed in 1670 !
This could include The Royal Charter granted by Charles II of England.
Here's two articles-
https://thewalrus.ca/hudsons-bay-charter/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hudsons-bay-creditor-protection-1.7477926

 

I hope museums get first crack but knowing the court's usual MO of getting the most cash for creditors it may just be a block auction unless the creditors agree to allow the gift or possibly lesser purchase by an institution.

 

It's hard not to think of The Bay !

 

I got the impression that business hasn't been all that well for years, but Trump's trade war could have been the final blow.

They opened fifteen stores here about ten years ago, planning a total of sixty. A year or so later those fifteen stores shut down with a huge loss because there was no interest. They had done no research into the Dutch market, and their collection was pretty close to that of the Dutch "de Bijenkorf".

 

Well, online shopping and covid delivered the big blows first, I think. But we have lost many fine department store chains: Woodwards (here in the West) was the first, Eaton's (venerable and as iconically Canadian as Hudson's Bay), Sears, and now the Bay (also hampered by sale to Target IIRC which prompty closed The Bay's low-cost and highly successful Zellers chain, and tried to start Target stores here. They failed and so The Bay didn't have Zellers to prop up their bottom line.). It was a downward spiral from there.

However, I am very sad that we're seeing the end of such a venerable company. The history of the Hudson's Bay Company and Canadian history are so intertwined. I am glad that you will still be able to get trademarked Bay brands and the iconic 4 colour striped wares at Canadian Tire which is also a Canadian store. I am sad that some of the very historic items from the company's archives may not stay in Canada. They should be in our museums -- at least the charter!

 

Online shopping did the lion's share, and I think this was coming before the tarriffs ever hit. My sister's first baby teddy came from Hudson's, and we're American. Dad was up that way on business and bought the bear.

 

Ditto. It is a very important part of Canadian history.

 

Oooh if only I had a few grand spare

 

I gotta say idk if it's the case here but everytime a long standing business goes under in the US it always turns out it's private equity that bought it, stripped it for parts, and bankrupted it on purpose resulting in the loss of jobs and diverse offerings. I'm so sick of this game they play and wish it was illegal.

 

Truth-thousands of times in the last 4 or 5 decades.

 

I had never heard of Hudson Bay till I started on ebay. I did see some of those nice blankets at an estate sale once.

The problem with many companies is they over expand.
We have a flooring co near here that every year or so runs a going out of biz sale and then they don't go out of biz and are back again with ads on tv.

 

-and they've been around since 1670 !

 

But isn't that like the always Going Out of Business Furniture stores? We had one here that had that sale for about a decade. Apparently the feds consider that illegal...

"It’s against the law to advertise a going out of business sale when a store isn’t, well, going out of business. If a store in your area is advertising what looks to be a bogus going out of business sale, tell your state Attorney General’s office." - Consumer FTC

 

If I remember correctly, they got into trouble legally many years ago, but somehow they continue to do it.
And now the ads on tv that say, limit of 3 of some item, because of the shortage of them. Total BS

 

We happened to visit the HBC main store in Victoria BC last October, and could tell then that the company was in trouble. There were almost no customers - pretty much just us, in a huge empty store. Lots of merchandise, no customers. And the few employees there did not know anything - like if asked "Where is the Christmas merchandise?" the answer was "I don't know."