Fashion

[TY]

Hudson Bay department stores in Canada are dumps! Why? Because the executives are being paid outrageous amounts of money while the corporation is losing money hand over fist. But they don't want the public to know about their annual shareholder meeting where a quarter of the stockholders voted against the exec compensation packages. No wonder the execs want to take the company private.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/hbc-shareholders-challenge-29-4m-ceo-pay-amid-privatization-deal-1.4...

The money goes into the executives pocket rather then doing any maintenance of stores like painting dressing rooms or replacing torn and dirty carpets. The suburban stores are straight out of the 1980s. HBC may be the oldest company in Canada but it deserves to fail, IMO. I only buy INC International Concepts tops, Style & Co tops (both Macy's brands), some shoes, and some clothes for my husband there and that's it.  I'd rather shop elsewhere now after reading about the exec's pay packages.

[Kachina624]

It's a shame this has happened to such an old, historic company.  Sounds as though they're on their last legs.

[chrystaltree]

In other words, they operate like every other major corporation.

[Oznell]

I'm really sorry that this formerly wonderful, enduring company is going downhill.  The decline seems to have started a long time ago (at least judging from the store I was most familiar with, in an exurb of Toronto), which my family has patronized over the years.  I've always hoped they'd turn it around...

[TY]

The decline in Hudson's Bay stores isn't an accident though. HBC went on an acquisition binge buying up Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, and some european department store chain (the name escapes me right now) and they opened a Hudson's Bay store in Holland.

They paid Mariah Carey millions to sing 2  Christmas songs at the Toronto flagship Saks a couple of years ago. HBC has never maintained their suburban stores or updated them. Even the downtown Vancouver flagship is unappealing compared to the Nordstrom kitty corner from them on the corner of Georgia and Granville streets.

Last fall when my daughter had to buy a bridesmaid dress we went to the Nordstrom and Hudson's Bay in downtown Vancouver. It was obvious which store was better in every way from the dress selections to the dressing rooms and customer service. My daughter bought her dress from Nordstrom.

[ECBG]

One of the stylists, Lynn Spence, on City Line (Canada) has found some wonderful things there!  I looked and there wasn't anything impressive at all.

[TY]

Here is another article from Retail Dive about HBC's annual general meeting and the shareholder dissatisfaction with the executive pay:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/several-hbc-shareholders-resist-big-ceo-pay/557464/

So I was in a greater Vancouver, B.C. suburban mall with a Hudson's Bay department store today and decided to take some photos of the dirty, stained and ripped carpets repaired with duct tape as well as a photo of the old fashioned beauty counters. 

Would you feel like a valued customer if you were in a bricks and mortar department store that looked like this?

[TY]

In the past week or so there have been news articles speculating that HBC will be closing underperforming stores and trying to renegotiate mall leases as they are the anchor tenant in many malls. Hudson's Bay is the last old fashioned department store chain in Canada. 

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/no-sacred-cows-at-hudson-s-bay-as-retailer-weighs-store-closures-1.12825...

I've noticed that in the last week that one of the suburban stores that I visited - the one I took photos of) has gotten rid of one of the cash register stations in the women's department and they have removed most of the price scanners while the remaining scanners don't work. There is a gaping unrepaired tear in the carpet where the cash register desk was.

The non working and pulled price scanners don't surprise me either as Hudson's Bay stores don't price match their own website. What better way to disguise prices from customers who don't realise what's going on.

I suspect this store and a couple of others in the Vancouver, B.C. suburbs are on the store closure list. The land is valuable and mall property companies are replacing mall parking lots with high rise condos.

[Katcat1]

The executives don't care as long as the money keeps going into their pockets and receive a bonus before the store goes under.  Welcome to the real world.