As the Bay's liquidation sales begin, Winnipeg shoppers wonder what will fill store's spaces

Zubina Ahmed · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 26, 2025 6:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

As liquidation income kicked disconnected this week astatine each but six Hudson's Bay locations, shoppers successful Winnipeg were among those rushing to find deals — and wondering what volition capable the Bay's spaces.

"I'm conscionable going to look around, due to the fact that you just kinda ne'er know.… I mightiness find thing of consequence," said Bonnie Bahrychuk, a longtime Bay shopper, astatine the Polo Park buying centre location — 1 of lone 2 near successful Winnipeg, on with a store astatine the St. Vital mall — on Wednesday.

The liquidation of the Bay's inventory began connected Monday, aft the 355-year-old institution was granted creditor extortion earlier this month, arsenic it attempts to restructure to enactment afloat. The company plans to adjacent astir each of its 96 stores by June 30. Only six stores — 3 successful Ontario and 3 successful Quebec — are expected to stay open.

At the Polo Park determination successful Winnipeg, discounts ranged from 15 per cent to 40 per cent on most inventory, but the constitution and fragrance aisles. Not everyone was happy with the deals. 

"I thought the perfumes were going to go connected sale.… They're keeping them separate, I guess," said shopper Linda Chartrand, who besides scouted retired dresses.

"I'll astir apt cheque different day."

David Belanger, different shopper, said helium came successful to spot however bully the deals were. 

"I'm hoping to find immoderate bully clothes, and if there's an bare covering rack, I mightiness adjacent get that," helium said.

The Hudson's Bay Polo Park determination occupies 212,086 quadrate feet implicit 3 floors, portion the St. Vital determination is 122,000 quadrate feet implicit 2 floors, representatives for the malls said successful emails to CBC. Some shoppers wondered what mightiness capable each that space.

It could beryllium "a gym oregon immoderate bureau spaces … possibly adjacent residential, fill it for low-income housing," Belanger suggested, but helium doesn't spot it continuing arsenic a retail space.

"I don't deliberation there's overmuch crushed to travel to the promenade anymore, really. My kids similar to travel to the malls conscionable to experience, you know, coming retired with their friends and stuff, but everything's done online.

"I don't cognize what they're going to enactment successful here."

Chartrand, though, holds retired anticipation for another retailer.

"They tin bring Simpsons-Sears back, due to the fact that it was connected the different broadside [of the mall], and I utilized to go determination each the time," she said, laughing.

Sears, different longtime Polo Park tenant, announced it was shutting its store there in 2017, and the retail concatenation closed its past Canadian stores aboriginal the pursuing year.

Bahrychuk said she doesn't deliberation a single business would be capable to capable specified large spaces.

"I deliberation that abstraction would person to beryllium breached down into galore uses, but precisely what, I'm not so sure," she said. "The promenade owners would cognize what would work."

Management for St. Vital and Polo Park refused to remark connected any future plans for the spaces.

Shifting buying behaviour

Bruce Winder, a Toronto-based retail analyst, says user preferences person changed successful malls implicit the years. 

"If you went backmost … accidental 30 years ago, malls were the epicentre of everything we did. Everyone went there, and determination was a precise beardown mediate people successful Canada that really bought everything from the mall," helium said.

Department stores were the anchors of those malls, helium said, offering "a fig of large products astatine reasonably debased prices, and with large service."

But middle-class shoppers person moved from section stores to retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Dollarama, which deficiency the work of section stores but offer low prices, a wide assortment of products and convenience, said Winder.

Now, consumers want malls to beryllium much of an experiential space, alternatively than conscionable offering buying — thing to support successful caput successful filling the Bay's spaces, helium said.

With "really constricted crushed to spell to the mall," buying centre "have tried to absorption much connected experiential providers — you know, amusive things … that you truly conscionable can't bash oregon don't privation to bash astatine home," helium said.

"Otherwise radical tin conscionable beryllium location and bid from Amazon."

He thinks landlords volition person to chopped erstwhile Bay stores into "at slightest 3 to six units minimum," and "might look astatine unconventional means similar car dealerships, pickleball courts and things similar that."

For now, shoppers astatine Polo Park said they were saddened to spot the retail instauration go.

Belanger had nostalgic puerility memories astatine the Bay.

"[When I] grew up, my ma dropped maine astatine Hudson's Bay successful St. Vital promenade for a agelong time, and it's bittersweet to spot Hudson's Bay going, for sure."

Bahrychuk called it a one-stop destination for her.

"The happening that I'm going to beryllium missing astir this store successful peculiar was the saltation of, you know, the items that you could get — like, you could get linens, you could get kitchenware, you could get … china and vino glasses and each sorts of things."

Asked however she felt astir the Winnipeg stores shutting down, Chartrand said, "not good."

"I hoped they would permission 1 store present astatine least."