Hudson's Bay Company

[androiduk]

Yeah, it is great and I'll be sorry to see it go. There's also one on top of the Bay @ Yonge & Bloor. It's very dated but has no view, like the rest of the store (fortress).

 

[officedweller]

Actually the original Arcadian Court was given a "stripped modern" makeover in the late 60s, comtemporary with the Simpson Tower--what we see now was in fact meant in the spirit of "restoration"...

Thanks for the info - just not into the po-mo era "heritage". It's very 80s.

 

[Evan]

L&T seems a bit low end for Y&B IMO. Nordstrom would've been perfect.

 

[adma]

Thanks for the info - just not into the po-mo era "heritage". It's very 80s.

And don't think I don't agree with you--after all, we're dealing with a "fixing" of a so-called "misguided" 60s reno with an Andrew Lloyd Webberized vamp on the supposed original spirit, which just winds up ramping up the presumed misguidedness to a more genuine next level.

And needless to say, the John Martins-Manteiga/Dominion Modern sensibility would much rather have the 60s version. (Parkin, after all--part of the overall schema which brought us the Simpson Tower. And as loathed as the Simpson Tower is by some, imagine it with a EIFS Pomo makeover.)

 

[vancouverguy_76]

Suitability of the Y&B Bay for L&T

I have a general question I'm throwing out, and one or more of you might have an answer. How 'suitable' is the Yonge and Bloor Bay space for a Lord & Taylor? From what I recall, the 'main floor' (1/2 floor up) has very low ceilings. As does the concourse level. The upper levels weren't much better, though I think I only ventured upstairs once.

Given the low ceilings, does anyone think some sort of drilling-through to increase ceiling heights would be possible? I'm more referring to making two floors into one taller floor...I guess. Unless there is some other method I am not familiar with. I admit I have no background knowledge on construction, but I do know that I found that Bay's ceilings unpleasantly low.

 

[simply Dan]

The entire Hudson’s Bay Centre in its current form is a disaster. When compared with the Manulife Centre (from the same concrete-obsessed era) it is painfully obvious that major reconstruction is required if this awful mess is ever to be properly corrected. The band-aid solutions of the past clearly haven’t worked. Low ceilings throughout are just one of the many flaws in the development (people-flow issues being another). If Lord & Taylor is ever going to succeed in that space, combining levels by knocking out ceilings is a must. Will Lord &Taylor really need that much square footage anyway?

 

[samsonyuen]

From: http://www.reportonbusiness.com/ser...usiness/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20081012.wrbaker13
_______________________

Can Richard Baker reinvent The Bay?

MARINA STRAUSS

From Monday's Globe and Mail

October 12, 2008 at 10:50 PM EDT

NEW YORK — Richard Baker, the new owner of retailer Hudson's Bay Co.,mingled with the New York fashion elite as the lights dimmed for designer Peter Som's recent show, offering opinions and taking a close look at the latest in skirts and dresses.

It's a stark contrast to previous HBC owner Jerry Zucker, who HBC insiders had a hard time picturing with fashionistas in New York.

But Mr. Baker, who made his name in real estate, knows it is time for a new approach at the struggling retailer.

“As an entrepreneur I'm not necessarily fixated on how things were done in the past,†says Mr. Baker.

“We function and we think much more like a specialty retailer rather than a department store retailer. A specialty retailer is much more nimble and willing to adjust to the environment than department stores, historically. Department stores, frankly, haven't changed a whole lot in 100 years.â€

His Purchase, N.Y.-based equity firm, NRDC Equity Partners, has snapped up a string of dusty retailers, among them HBC's underperforming Bay and Zellers.

The Bay operates in the department store sector which is on the wane, squeezed for years by specialty and discount chains. Zellers struggles in a low-priced arena dominated by behemoth Wal-Mart Canada Corp.

The need for a makeover is clear: The Bay's sales per square foot are estimated at merely $142, and Zellers', $149 – a fraction of the estimated $480 at Wal-Mart Canada.

At Lord & Taylor, which also lags some of its key U.S. rivals in productivity, Mr. Baker has had some success in its efforts to return to its high end Americana roots. But the 47-store chain is feeling the pinch of tight-fisted consumers and, late last month, he unveiled a shakeup at the top ranks of his firm's $8-billion (U.S.) a year retail businesses to try to shave costs.

Still, he is pouring money into the chains in other ways, quickly distinguishing himself from Mr. Zucker, who died last spring. While the former owner had named himself CEO despite his lack of merchandising experience, the new owner has handpicked a team of seasoned merchants at the senior levels of his retailers.

And while Mr. Zucker shunned publicity and focused on more mundane, although critical, matters, such as technology to track customer demand, Mr. Baker enjoys the limelight. Now he is betting on the fragile fashion sector as an engine of growth. Last fall he set up Creative Design Studios (CDS) to develop designer lines for Lord & Taylor, now, HBC and, eventually, retailers around the world.

Mr. Baker is “looking at every one of the properties with a different viewpoint,†says Walter Loeb, a former member of HBC's board of directors and a consultant at Loeb Associates in New York. “He has new ideas. He doesn't want to keep Hudson's Bay in its present form.â€

Nevertheless, “this team has taken over a not particularly healthy business,†says Marvin Traub, a former executive at Bloomingdale's who runs consultancy Marvin Traub Associates in New York. “They know and understand the challenges. It will take some time to fix them.â€

What Mr. Baker looks for in retailers is faded brands that have the potential to be revived. Early this year, NRDC acquired Fortunoff, an insolvent jewellery and home décor chain. The synergies among NRDC's various retailers are tremendous, says Gilbert Harrison, chairman of New York investment bank Financo Inc., which advises Mr. Baker. So is the value of the real estate. At HBC, it is estimated to be worth $1.2-billion, according to industry insiders. That's just a little more than the equivalent purchase price of the retailer itself. Lord & Taylor's real estate was valued at $1.7-billion (U.S.) when Mr. Baker acquired the company in 2006 – about $500-million more than he bought it for.

“Initially I thought, good luck,†says Mr. Gilbert. “He's bought this in one of the most difficult retail environments that we've seen for 20 or 30 years. …

“But he's protected his downside because the basic real estate values of Lord & Taylor and, now Hudson's Bay, certainly help prevent tragedy.â€

Mr. Baker likes to tell the story of buying Lord & Taylor for its real estate, and then on the way to signing the deal noticed how well the stores were performing.

Like most other U.S. retailers, Lord & Taylor has seen business slow down recently. But its transformation to appeal to the well heeled had begun even before Mr. Baker arrived. It had dropped an array of tired brands, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Nautica, and picked up trendier labels, among them Coach and Tracy Reese.

Mr. Baker encouraged the strategy of expanding and upgrading higher margin designer handbags and footwear. Ditto for denim wear and funky styles in the women's “contemporary†section under hot labels such as Free People and Diesel. “My job is to understand that we need to get the best brands in the store.â€

But he also saw the opportunity to bolster margins by stocking affordable lines in the form of CDS brands, with a focus now on Black Brown 1826 men's wear line. “I thought there was a void in the market for exactly the kind of clothes that my friends and I wear, at a right price. Why should we pay $150 for a dress shirt?†he asks, holding up one for $69.

Now Mr. Baker wants to borrow a leaf from the Lord & Taylor playbook for HBC. He wants to introduce better quality products with higher margins, and plans to add his design studio merchandise to the stores early next year.

Besides the details, he sees a whole new concept for the big Bay department stores. It would entail shrinking the Bay, possibly introducing Lord & Taylor within the stores, and adding Zellers in the basement and Fortunoff jewellery departments upstairs, with office space at the top. Lord & Taylor would serve to fill a gap in the retail landscape between the Bay and carriage trade Holt Renfrew, he says. For discounter Zellers, he seems to take inspiration from Target Corp., the fashionable U.S. discounter, by putting more focus on branded apparel.

But he's not averse to selling parts of the business, or real estate, if the right offer came along either. “We're always available to sell things a the right price, or buy things at the right price.â€

 

[syn]

The entire Hudson’s Bay Centre in its current form is a disaster. When compared with the Manulife Centre (from the same concrete-obsessed era) it is painfully obvious that major reconstruction is required if this awful mess is ever to be properly corrected. The band-aid solutions of the past clearly haven’t worked. Low ceilings throughout are just one of the many flaws in the development (people-flow issues being another). If Lord & Taylor is ever going to succeed in that space, combining levels by knocking out ceilings is a must. Will Lord &Taylor really need that much square footage anyway?

None of this can compare to their surprisingly inept sales staff. I was just there looking at some TVs that were on sale for the past few days (today being the last day) with some pretty good prices. I looked for quite a while, and not one member of the sales staff tried to help. The only person who tried was someone from Panasonic who doesn't even work there.

Once he got someone who actually worked there to help, he basically unraveled all the good work done by the Panasonic salesman, and told me to go to Future Shop. It was pretty funny.

 

[adma]

Well, at least he didn't try to sell you a Panaphonics...

 

[gabe]

L&T seems a bit low end for Y&B IMO. Nordstrom would've been perfect.

I agree. The Bay at Y&B is going still look same only with different name and colors. Nordstrom Bloomingdale's or Saks fifth would have been perfect for that location. The Saks fifth ave stores i have been in were a lot nicer than Holt's flagship store

 

[Tewder]

I find Holt's to be more like Barney's. I don't think we have the equivalent of a Saks which seems a little stuffier to me. I also don't know that we have the wealthy population base and level of tourism to support another big luxury department store. L&T seems about right, though I would love a Macy's!!

 

[yyzer]

Lord & Taylor, Fortunoff plans cancelled

from today's Star....looks like plans to bring Lord & Taylor and Fortunoff to Canada have been cancelled....

The Bay launches Olympian rebranding effort


New owners anxious to link store to `pride, passion' for Games

Feb 11, 2009 04:30 AM

Dana Flavelle
Business Reporter

The new owners of the Hudson's Bay Co. will face one of their first visible tests tomorrow when they unveil the Olympic torchbearers' uniform on a stage in Whistler, B.C., as part of a high-profile one-year countdown to the 2010 Winter Games.

The country's oldest retailer is hoping to revitalize its brand by linking its image more closely to the Olympics. As part of that effort, the company is launching a redesigned corporate logo, one it hopes will connect the company's future to its storied past. The Olympic uniforms will bear the insignia.

"For me, the Olympics is this unique opportunity where all of this pride, passion, enthusiasm, competition, heritage that this country is garnering for the support of the Olympics – all of those attributes are what I'm trying to connect to my company," said Jeffrey Sherman, the American retail executive who runs the parent firm, Hudson's Bay Trading Co.

The goal has so far eluded the company, which won the right four years ago under different owners to outfit Canada's athletes for the next four Olympic games, a highly coveted prize worth millions if handled properly.

The previous holders of that title, Roots Canada, shot to international prominence after television viewers around the globe fell in love with the "poor boy" cap worn by Canada's athletes at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

But Hudson's Bay failed to capitalize as effectively on its position as the official outfitter. Indeed, some of the wilder looking orange print merchandise developed in conjunction with last summer's games in Beijing languished in its stores.

Sherman said he believes it's just a matter of designing and marketing it properly. "I've been critical of the way we've under-marketed our Olympic association in the past."

However, he declined to say how much more the company would spend marketing the brand, saying a lot of activities would be focused in stores, such as Olympic contests that don't cost much.

The company plans to use some of the same designers but focus more on products that remain appealing after the games are over, he said.

Since taking over Hudson's Bay last July, the new owners, NRDC Equity Partners, have invested $70 million in the 600-store chain that includes the Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters and Fields, while cutting 1,000 back-office jobs to save money.

The worsening economy has jettisoned plans to bring its U.S. chain, Lord & Taylor, and jewellery and housewares chain Fortunoff to Canada, raising questions about how to fill the excess space in some of its Canadian stores.

While saying there are no plans at this time to close any stores, Sherman said he couldn't rule that out 12 to 18 months down the road.

In the meantime, the company plans to begin introducing exclusive brands, he said. U.S. menswear designer Joseph Abboud's Black/Brown line is coming to the Bay while Zellers is getting Pure, a new women's career wear line designed by Canadian Alfred Sung.

 

[Skeezix]

from today's Star....looks like plans to bring Lord & Taylor and Fortunoff to Canada have been cancelled....

One of the problems is that a few days ago they decided to cut their losses and let their Fortunoff subsidiary declare Chapter 11 in the U.S.

 

[cacruden]

I could not care about Zellers, don't care for them much.

The Bay, I have a love hate relationship with - found them dishonest in sneakily signing my up for their credit card - pretending that it was only a "membership points" card (so I did not open up their mail and found out that I was overdue on the purchase I thought I saved 5% on due to the rewards card - thought it was on my mastercard that they swiped) - talked to others that this was not a single incident but a pattern..... on the other hand, I negotiated a 20% discount on the most expensive appliance that I ever bought at the flagship store - a Wolf Range -- which I am happy with.

 

[prosperegal]

The Bay seems to have gotten rid of their e-commerce store.

Re: Arcadian Court - My high school had its formals there through out the 1990s.