"Well, the Bay was already American so there isn't any real change; and the Bay did have some earlier American roots -- see the illustration"By David Friend, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The Hudson's Bay Co. has been bought by the owner of American department store chain Lord & Taylor, which plans to expand its brand into Canada and give a fresh approach to both The Bay and Zellers.
HBC, which has a 338-year history that contributed to the exploration and development of large parts of Canada, has been under American ownership since 2006, when it was bought for $1.1 billion by entrepreneur Jerry Zucker.
Since Zucker's death in April, there had been speculation that HBC would be sold.
The buyer is New York-based NRDC Equity Partners, which also owns the Lord & Taylor group, Fortunoff jewellery stores and Creative Design Studios home-decor chain.
The combined company, to be known as the Hudson's Bay Trading Co., has 75,000 employees and annual sales totalling more than US$8 billion.
Richard Baker, a principal with the new owner, becomes CEO of Hudson's Bay Trading Co. and 38th governor of the Hudson's Bay Co.
"Enormous potential exists by upgrading the offerings at both the Bay and Zellers and by bringing Lord & Taylor, Fortunoff & CDS into the mix," Baker said in a statement.
He said Lord & Taylor is set to launch 10 to 15 stores in Canada, filling a gap in the Canadian retail landscape between the mid-market Bay department stores and the upscale Holt Renfrew chain.
NRDC, which bought Lord & Taylor for $1.2 billion in cash in 2006, said it will make a new investment of $500 million in the combined company.
"Over the past two years we have made a big effort to move Lord & Taylor up market and bring in better vendors, better marketing and better advertising," Baker said in an interview.
"We are not closing any Bay stores to open up Lord & Taylor, and the primary focus is to improve The Bay business."
At Zellers, he said there's an opportunity to provide more branded product, better merchandising and a more exciting offering at competitive pricing. He said the revised approach is aimed at creating "a more interesting and exciting place to shop."
NRDC formerly was a minority owner along with Zucker's InterTech Group in Hudson's Bay Co., which was founded in 1670 and is the oldest continually operating company in North America.
1 comment:
Although it saddened me to see HBC fall into American hands a few years ago, I agree that the HBC family of stores is in desperate need of an overhaul. I try so hard to support them; I like the IDEA of them, but they have less & less of what I want in their stores. Maybe Lord & Taylor will turn it around!
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