Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is expressing sadness at the potential liquidation of Canada’s oldest retailer.
Lawyers for Hudson’s Bay appeared in a Toronto courtroom on Monday to outline their plans for a liquidation process that, if approved, could begin as soon as Tuesday and take up to 12 weeks to complete.
The retailer is still hoping for a financial lifeline that might allow it to restructure its business.
However, the fate of all 80 stores it operates across Canada, as well as three Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 13 Saks Off 5th locations that it owns through a licensing agreement, remains up in the air.
Should the liquidation result in the closure of the entire business, it would mean the loss of 9,364 jobs across Canada.
“It is so sad. I think they couldn’t survive COVID and the recovery. People are so used to ordering online you know,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said during an interview with CP24 on Monday.
“We will see (what happens). But it’s sad so many people are losing their jobs. I have done so much shopping there. I used to give out gift cards from the Bay you know.”
There are currently 32 Hudson’s Bay locations in Ontario, including a flagship store at Queen and Yonge streets in downtown Toronto.
It is not clear what might happen to the Bay’s brick-and-mortar retail locations should the company dissolve its business, though Chow told CP24 that she is hopeful “something new will grow out of it.”
The department store chain dates back to 1670.
With files from The Canadian Press.
