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Hudson's Bay had a resurgence around the time of the 2010 Olympics, with lots of Canadian branding and an attempt to move upscale. However, when that faded, wha

Hudson's Bay had a resurgence around the time of the 2010 Olympics, with lots of Canadian branding and an attempt to move upscale. However, when that faded, what remained? A large department store with high overhead, and products that were not outstanding but certainly cost more than their competitors. I would go into one ever so often, but ultimately I left empty-handed, wondering: who is this store for? I make a decent salary but can't really justify spending that much money on a shirt that doesn't really fit or look any better than something I would get from another clothing store for half the price of less. At that price point, I'm really hoping for someone to measure me, help me find a shirt, and then send it for tailoring so I actually have something that fits. May as well just go to a smaller store for that sort of experience, no? HBC probably needs to rebrand as a smaller boutique, let go of things like appliances and other products they can't compete with more specialized retailers / Amazon / etc on, and push further towards emphasizing the parts of brick-n-mortar retail that still make sense: the personalized experience, recommendations, evaluation of how something looks on you, helping you try things on, etc. The real question is, what the hell do we do with all this gigantic retail space, especially in relatively newer malls?

542458 6y ago
Prior to COVID I would have said that retail space could be office space, but now? No idea. I feel it would be really hard to convert to residential, so I have no serious ideas. Maybe schools?
- toast0 6y ago
  Mall to condo conversions are a thing. There's probably better links, but I think this one has decent pictures: https://www.popsugar.com/home/Providence-Shopping-Mall-Converted-Apartments-37434301 https://www.popsugar.com/home/Providence-Shopping-Mall-Conve... Living like Logan's Run could be just what we need to break out of the dull pandemic mood?
  - bregma 6y ago
    You mean, kill anyone over 21 years of age? Harsh.
    - toast0 6y ago
      We can go with the movie age of 30. Which is a little less harsh. Mostly I just meant living in a mall. Maybe you'd just lose your lease when you hit 30?
- the-dude 6y ago
  Mandatory quarantine centers? The Chinese used office buildings for this.
jasonpeacock 6y ago
Turn it all into housing, schooling, clinics, and community centers. It's already happening in some cities. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-30/a-case-for-turning-empty-malls-into-housing https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-30/a-case-fo... https://livability.com/topics/love-where-you-live/retail-resurrection-7-abandoned-malls-that-found-new-life https://livability.com/topics/love-where-you-live/retail-res...
- pyuser583 6y ago
  Not churches?
  - jasonpeacock 6y ago
    Churches are in decline, there's no demand for more of them. http://readytoharvest.com/2019/05/18/the-decline-of-mainline-churches-in-america/ http://readytoharvest.com/2019/05/18/the-decline-of-mainline... https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christ... https://www.christianpost.com/news/1-in-5-churches-face-closure-within-18-months-due-to-covid-19-shutdowns-barna-president.html https://www.christianpost.com/news/1-in-5-churches-face-clos...
    - pyuser583 6y ago
      For many communities, churches are the community centers/libraries/cultural centers. They preform functions identical to the organizations you mentioned - although they do other things as well. Regarding demand, your sources indirectly say over 100 million Americans attend church regularly (“43% of Americans”). That’s a big number. Regardless, the issue isn’t just demand, but supply. The “market” for churches is extremely local. If large number of Filipinos arrive in San Francisco, their demand for churches won’t be met by an excess of Southern Baptist churches in Dallas. I understand that separation of Church and State. But creating schools, immunities centers, etc. is a function NGO civil society groups. Groups like that have historically helped create Churches, especially for immigrant groups whose demand isn’t met by “native” churches. Many historically Catholic parishes were created with support from Episcopal parishes. Not for religious reasons, but because they recognized that the German/Irish immigrants benefited from them. That dynamic hasn’t gone away, even if only 100 million Americans attend church regularly.
sergers 6y ago
It was one of those stores that had all the premium brands (vs Eaton's back in the day). Those brands established their own store fronts, while HBC tried to continue to be all. Massive prime retail spaces, floors of merchandise for nearly everything. At crazy high prices (they had great promos with their scratch n save they discontinued long ago). Now it's just a shop old people with money goto. Or may be the only high-end retail space In small town mall where small-town rich people spend their money.
bdamm 6y ago
Break it up into small units and resell the commercial space to businesses and offices that can actually make money? This is the kind of thing real estate managers are great at so no worries. Some will rot but my bet is most will be resold and developed. Too bad. They had great blankets.
- ghaff 6y ago
  LL Bean no longer sells their blankets. They sell higher quality look-alikes made by a small mill in Minnesota.
switchbak 6y ago
I think they were just holding on due to the inertia of older folks that were used to shopping there. I think I bought luggage there once, but I avoided that place like the plague. Reminded me of all the worst of retail, all in one spot.
perardi 6y ago
who is this store for? The big one at Bloor and Yonge has very nice bathrooms. There’s that.
- julianlam 6y ago
  Every time I step foot in that location I get lost trying to find the mall entrance. There's no way I'd be able to find the bathrooms
- bregma 6y ago
  I worked there when I was an undergrad (many decades ago). It was right beside the elite Rosedale neighbourhood. I served a lot of well-known faces in my department including the at-the-time billionaire owner of the store, former and future prime ministers, and famous actors. That's not to say it was elitist, but the elite couldn't be bothered to go all the way to Simpson's or Eaton's so it was convenient for them.
vincent-manis 6y ago
Before the pandemic, when the huge mall a couple of blocks from me was frantically busy, I'd sometimes walk thru the HBC store. It was pretty much always an oasis of peace.

542458 6y ago

Prior to COVID I would have said that retail space could be office space, but now? No idea. I feel it would be really hard to convert to residential, so I have no serious ideas. Maybe schools?

toast0 6y ago
Mall to condo conversions are a thing. There's probably better links, but I think this one has decent pictures: https://www.popsugar.com/home/Providence-Shopping-Mall-Converted-Apartments-37434301 https://www.popsugar.com/home/Providence-Shopping-Mall-Conve... Living like Logan's Run could be just what we need to break out of the dull pandemic mood?
- bregma 6y ago
  You mean, kill anyone over 21 years of age? Harsh.
  - toast0 6y ago
    We can go with the movie age of 30. Which is a little less harsh. Mostly I just meant living in a mall. Maybe you'd just lose your lease when you hit 30?
the-dude 6y ago
Mandatory quarantine centers? The Chinese used office buildings for this.

jasonpeacock 6y ago

Turn it all into housing, schooling, clinics, and community centers. It's already happening in some cities. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-30/a-case-for-turning-empty-malls-into-housing https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-30/a-case-fo... https://livability.com/topics/love-where-you-live/retail-resurrection-7-abandoned-malls-that-found-new-life https://livability.com/topics/love-where-you-live/retail-res...

pyuser583 6y ago
Not churches?
- jasonpeacock 6y ago
  Churches are in decline, there's no demand for more of them. http://readytoharvest.com/2019/05/18/the-decline-of-mainline-churches-in-america/ http://readytoharvest.com/2019/05/18/the-decline-of-mainline... https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christ... https://www.christianpost.com/news/1-in-5-churches-face-closure-within-18-months-due-to-covid-19-shutdowns-barna-president.html https://www.christianpost.com/news/1-in-5-churches-face-clos...
  - pyuser583 6y ago
    For many communities, churches are the community centers/libraries/cultural centers. They preform functions identical to the organizations you mentioned - although they do other things as well. Regarding demand, your sources indirectly say over 100 million Americans attend church regularly (“43% of Americans”). That’s a big number. Regardless, the issue isn’t just demand, but supply. The “market” for churches is extremely local. If large number of Filipinos arrive in San Francisco, their demand for churches won’t be met by an excess of Southern Baptist churches in Dallas. I understand that separation of Church and State. But creating schools, immunities centers, etc. is a function NGO civil society groups. Groups like that have historically helped create Churches, especially for immigrant groups whose demand isn’t met by “native” churches. Many historically Catholic parishes were created with support from Episcopal parishes. Not for religious reasons, but because they recognized that the German/Irish immigrants benefited from them. That dynamic hasn’t gone away, even if only 100 million Americans attend church regularly.

sergers 6y ago

It was one of those stores that had all the premium brands (vs Eaton's back in the day). Those brands established their own store fronts, while HBC tried to continue to be all. Massive prime retail spaces, floors of merchandise for nearly everything. At crazy high prices (they had great promos with their scratch n save they discontinued long ago). Now it's just a shop old people with money goto. Or may be the only high-end retail space In small town mall where small-town rich people spend their money.

bdamm 6y ago

Break it up into small units and resell the commercial space to businesses and offices that can actually make money? This is the kind of thing real estate managers are great at so no worries. Some will rot but my bet is most will be resold and developed. Too bad. They had great blankets.

ghaff 6y ago
LL Bean no longer sells their blankets. They sell higher quality look-alikes made by a small mill in Minnesota.

switchbak 6y ago

I think they were just holding on due to the inertia of older folks that were used to shopping there. I think I bought luggage there once, but I avoided that place like the plague. Reminded me of all the worst of retail, all in one spot.

perardi 6y ago

who is this store for? The big one at Bloor and Yonge has very nice bathrooms. There’s that.

julianlam 6y ago
Every time I step foot in that location I get lost trying to find the mall entrance. There's no way I'd be able to find the bathrooms
bregma 6y ago
I worked there when I was an undergrad (many decades ago). It was right beside the elite Rosedale neighbourhood. I served a lot of well-known faces in my department including the at-the-time billionaire owner of the store, former and future prime ministers, and famous actors. That's not to say it was elitist, but the elite couldn't be bothered to go all the way to Simpson's or Eaton's so it was convenient for them.

vincent-manis 6y ago

Before the pandemic, when the huge mall a couple of blocks from me was frantically busy, I'd sometimes walk thru the HBC store. It was pretty much always an oasis of peace.