The mood was melancholic this week at St. Albert Centre as shoppers got news that the mall’s Hudson’s Bay outlet was set to close its doors for good.
A nationwide liquidation sale of all but six Hudson’s Bay outlets in Canada officially began March 24.
Hudson’s Bay Company ULC filed for creditor protection on March 7. On March 21, an Ontario judge authorized the company to liquidate all its stores save for six split between Ontario and Quebec. The move affects three Saks 5th Avenue, 13 Saks OFF 5th, and 74 Hudson’s Bay outlets in Canada, including the Hudson’s Bay in St. Albert Centre, and could put 1,229 Albertans out of work.
Sentimental sale
The St. Albert Hudson’s Bay was bustling with dozens of bargain hunters on March 24, even though the store’s liquidation sale actually started the next day. Store staff were seen hanging signs on the 25th proclaiming the entire store to be on sale for 15-to-40 per cent off, with all sales final.
St. Albert resident Lydia McKernan was trying on shoes with her husband Bryan at the store in preparation for her son’s wedding.
“This was my late mother’s favourite store,” she said, and the first thing she’d want to do when visiting St. Albert was to go shop at The Bay.
“Sometimes when I miss her I come by here just to remember her.”
Bryan said he often went to other Bay outlets with his mother as a child. Some stores had cafeterias (the St. Albert outlet had one in the early 1980s, former Enjoy Centre co-owner Jim Hole reports), and he remembered getting clam chowder from them as a treat.
Cindy C. was browsing the store’s dress section, having shopped at the St. Albert outlet since 1984. Like many customers the Gazette spoke with, she said she was sad to see The Bay go.
“The Bay has been a Canadian institution,” she said, and has always been a pleasant place to shop in.
The St. Albert Hudson’s Bay was showing its age when the Gazette visited, with stained carpets, worn linoleum, bare shelves, broken doors, and haphazard heaps of merchandise on tables.
Morinville resident Joy T. said she was not surprised to hear that Hudson’s Bay was going through liquidation, as there had been a sharp drop in customer service at the company’s stores in recent years.
“Everything is just a big mess,” she said, gesturing at the jumble of boxes in the shoe department.
“Can you find anyone here to help you? No.”
St. Albert resident Ralph Hansen criticized Hudson’s Bay for being overpriced, as its sale prices were often higher than the retail prices offered by other stores.
“If you want to play the game, you’ve got to be in the same ballpark,” he said.
Court documents show that the Hudson’s Bay liquidation sale will end June 15, with all stores vacated by June 30. Gift cards will be valid until April 6, 2025.
Bryan said he hoped St. Albert Centre would put housing or some other amenity in the Hudson’s Bay’s old location to make the mall more of a community gathering place.
“Amazon is changing everything. This type of bricks and mortar [store] is not sustainable given the astronomical price of rent.”
Lydia said Hudson’s Bay was part of Canada’s identity, and she was saddened by its departure from St. Albert.
“The mall will not be the same without it.”
Not sure it will make much difference to the Mall. I can't remember the last time I bought anything from the Bay. All I ever do is walk through the store from the parking lot to the rest of the Mall and there is rarely more than a few people in there.