Customers flock to Hudson’s Bay ahead of liquidation

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This article was published 15/03/2025 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Minnesota senior who drove seven hours to stock up on items at a Hudson’s Bay store is ‘grieving’ the potential loss of the iconic chain.

The Bay filed for creditor protection last week. Then, on Friday night, it announced it will begin liquidating its entire business as soon as next week, pending court approval.

Corey Gordon and his wife, Lori, decided to drive from St. Paul to Winnipeg on a whim that night, arriving at about 3 a.m. Saturday. They had heard about the Bay seeking creditor protection but, while travelling, missed the news that Canada’s oldest retailer will “undergo full liquidation” unless an “alternative solution” is found.

“I’m really grieving right now,” he said at the store’s St. Vital Centre location Saturday.

“I genuinely feel sad. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it, when we got into our hotel room.”

Inside the store, the couple loaded up on pillows, blankets and throws, all adorned with Hudson’s Bay Co. stripes — items that seemed like more than simply merchandise to them.

For Gordon, Hudson’s Bay is more than a department store. It’s a connection to his past.

“My uncle, who was more like a grandfather, was a Winnipegger,” Gordon said. “So, since early childhood, I’ve been coming up all my life.”

Losing the stores would be another painful blow.

Gordon recalls Eaton’s closing in 1999 and the sorrow of losing the Bay’s downtown Winnipeg location in 2020. Because of pandemic restrictions, the couple was unable to travel here before the store’s closure late that year.

“Even the idea that Hudson’s Bay would close… it’s one of North America’s oldest stores,” he said. “For me, it’s a connection to my uncle.”

Early in his relationship with Lori, Gordon introduced her to the Bay, and it became part of their story. Their Minnesota home is decorated in the brand’s signature green, red, yellow and navy blue.

Gordon gifted his wife a Hudson’s Bay fur coat, just as his uncle had done for his aunt decades earlier.

“We really have a history here,” Lori Gordon said.

The Bay has two Winnipeg stores, with the other in Polo Park mall, but had five at its height. For many, the Bay is more than a brand — it’s a piece of their personal history.

Bob Mackenzie used to race up and down the escalators at the Bay downtown as a child.

“My grandparents would take us there, to the Paddlewheel Restaurant, throwing coins in the water,” he recalled at the St. Vital store.

His wife, Marianne, grew up in the country and remembers going from Eaton’s to the Bay on a Saturday, a regular excursion for many shoppers at the former downtown location.

“It’s sad that the big department stores are no longer,” she said. “It’s a part of history.”

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The St. Vital store was buzzing Saturday afternoon, already selling out of Bay-branded items such as coffee mugs.

While potential liquidation sales have yet to begin, many shoppers were ensuring they would have a piece of the beloved brand if the stores disappear.

In one long lineup on the main floor, several customers waiting to pay reminisced about the old downtown location, and about Eaton’s and Sears. The city’s last Sears stores closed in 2018.

“This place means a lot to people,” Gordon said of the Bay stores.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.