On a bitterly cold December day in Montreal, the Hudson’s Bay flagship at 585 Sainte Catherine Street West sat eerily quiet as the building with hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space was locked tight. Instead of hosting bustling shoppers, the empty building symbolized the end of a long-held retail tradition across Canada.
For the first time since 1881, Canadians are facing the holidays without being able to shop at any store run by The Bay. And for the first time since 1670, the company that was a foundational part of the country's economy no longer exists.
Hudson’s Bay filed for creditor protection in March, citing billions in debt, rising costs and shifting consumer habits. By June, liquidation sales had ended, and the doors of all the stores closed for good. While Ontario saw the most stores shuttered, with 32 stores, a total of 80 Hudson’s Bay stores vanished from Canada’s national retail landscape, leaving behind some hard-to-fill buildings.
For some of The Bay's shoppers, memories stretch back to their childhoods.
“When I was a young kid, my grandmother used to take me to lunch upstairs. It was kind of our Christmas tradition together,” said Marc Champoux, while walking his dog outside the Montreal building that formerly housed the Hudson's Bay store. “On the first day I was off school, she’d come over, we’d go shopping, and then have lunch at the top. That was in the early to mid-90s, and it’s definitely a fond memory for me. I live downtown now, and it’s really sad to see that it’s closed. It feels like losing a piece of the past.”
Another Montrealer said he still feels the bitter sting of the loss of Hudson's Bay.
“My lament is the loss of grandeur. Big retailers were more than just meccas of consumerism," music teacher Ron Harris told CoStar News. "Downtown flagship stores were meeting places, anchors, reminders of where you were: Downtown! Where big ruled, from blaring neons to extravagant window displays to sexy, alluring merchandising. Losing The Bay, Eaton’s et. al. is a major cultural loss, first and foremost."
More than a store
For decades, Hudson’s Bay was, as Harris said, more than a store, it was a social hub, a hotspot, a place to wander inside on an afternoon or evening. Its flagship stores in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver were landmarks, standout buildings with holiday windows rivaling Macy’s Herald Square store in New York City. Families made pilgrimages to see displays, sip cocoa or grab a bite to eat in cafeterias, and shop for gifts under soaring ceilings.
The Bay’s striped blankets became heirlooms. Its downtown stores were places where generations marked milestones, from wedding registries to back-to-school shopping.
The loss of Hudson's Bay for Canadians is not unprecedented. Eaton’s, another titan of Canadian retail, collapsed in 1999 after 130 years in business. Like The Bay, Eaton’s was woven into the nation's identity, its name emblazoned on department stores that defined city centers. When Eaton’s fell, Canadians mourned the loss of not just a store but also an era.
Canadian Tire has acquired Hudson’s Bay’s intellectual property for $30 million and aims to keep the brand alive through some product lines. The initiative will not, however, fill the escalators that once teemed with shoppers lugging laden shopping bags in giant buildings from coast to coast.
The Hudson’s Bay shutdowns have left a string of cavernous vacancies across Canada, massive multi-level boxes in prime downtown locations. The Montreal flagship alone spans hundreds of thousands of square feet. Toronto’s Yonge Street store boasts nine floors and nearly 550,000 square feet.
Landlords now face a paradox: retail vacancy rates in Canada remain historically low, yet these large spaces are difficult to find tenants to fill. Smaller-format stores dominate demand, while e-commerce continues to reshape shopping habits. Pension funds such as La Caisse, formerly known as CDPQ, have already signaled caution, steering clear of retail assets despite the retail property sector's strong performance fundamentals.
Those involved on the real estate side of the Hudson's Bay equation expressed emotion at the loss of the iconic retail chain, including Alex Avery, CEO of Primaris REIT, telling CoStar: "Canada's oldest incorporated business. It's sad to see it go. It's a cautionary tale of U.S. hedge fund managers coming in to take advantage of Canadian institutions."
Filling the spaces
RioCan REIT, Oxford Properties and Cadillac Fairview, major landlords tied to Hudson’s Bay, are scrambling to repurpose these spaces.
At Yorkdale Mall, Canada’s most profitable shopping center based on sales per square foot, Oxford and RioCan are sparring over whether a discount retailer can replace The Bay. Oxford argues that inserting a low-end tenant would tarnish Yorkdale’s luxury image.
The dispute showcases the challenge facing the owners of these buildings. Only a select group of retailers can absorb over 200,000 square feet in one shot. Oxford estimates $9.3 million in immediate repairs and $16.9 million over three years for upgrades at Yorkdale alone.
Another landlord affected by the demise of Hudson's Bay, Primaris REIT, said it plans to spend $125 million to $150 million to improve its former Hudson’s Bay locations.
Canada has seen this movie before. Target’s abrupt exit in 2015 left 133 big-box shells scattered across the country, forcing landlords to scramble to fill the vacant big-box stores. Sears Canada’s filing for protection from creditors in 2017 added another wave of vacancies. Each time, the fallout rippled through pension funds, real estate investment trusts and mall operators.
For some, Hudson's Bay was synonymous with holiday celebration.
The store "was always dressed to the nines" during the year-end shopping season, former Hudson's Bay shopper Nancy Levesque told CoStar News. "It’s sad Canada’s lost a true institution. Hopefully, there will be something to replace it so that my grandchildren can enjoy Christmas in a department store as much as my kids did.”
According to Diane Moran, a former sales supervisor in women’s fashion, the store "in all of its glory was magical, the history of it all. Some of my friends still worked there, and with the store closing, an era comes to a close."