Manitoba businesses owed $2.2M by Hudson's Bay, but 'we probably won't see a cent': contractor

Edzi'u Loverin · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 5:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Sandi Waterfield says she had an inkling the Hudson's Bay Company was successful fiscal occupation aft the historical retailer failed to wage $30,000 to her tiny Manitoba concern for implicit a year.

Waterfield is the wide manager and portion proprietor of Klondike Sterling Glove Corp., 1 of the 2,000 creditors the Hudson's Bay Company has struggled to wage portion buckling nether the nearly $1 cardinal indebtedness it owes them.

She says she did not person immoderate notification earlier the nationalist retailer announced connected March 7 it had applied for creditor protection, conscionable hours aft a reporting system — where she could find retired however overmuch of the inventory she had consigned to the retailer had been sold — unopen down.

Now, "if I spell to log into it, it comes up 'user inactive,'" said Waterfield. "The lone informing I had was that they weren't paying."

Waterfield said her Winnipeg-based outerwear institution has been successful concern with the Bay for implicit 25 years. The retailer represented 40 per cent of her concern past year, with 20,000 units of product, she said.

"Hudson Bay is my largest customer, my azygous largest customer, and astatine its peak, it represented astir 70 per cent of my volume," said Waterfield.

When the retailer filed for creditor extortion earlier this month, it hoped to restructure by liquidating fractional of its stores and monetizing immoderate of the leases it holds successful areas of premier ft traffic, according to a lawyer for the company.

However, it was unable to unafraid the backing from lenders needed to concern that restructuring, leaving the institution scrambling and facing a afloat liquidation of each of its 80 stores.

The profoundly indebted institution owes $950 million to secured and unsecured creditors, including $2.2 million to dozens of Manitoba companies, according to a creditor document.

In a Toronto tribunal connected Wednesday, Ashley Taylor, a lawyer for Hudson's Bay, requested an hold connected the ceremonial support of the liquidation program until Friday, saying that the institution was inactive engaging with stakeholders and having "good, constructive discussions."

'It'll impact each Canadians successful immoderate way'

Marissa Freed, president of Freed and Freed International, says her household has been doing concern with Hudson's Bay for implicit 100 years, opening with her great-grandfather.

Freed and Freed International does the plan and the improvement for the Bay's Stripes line — merchandise that features the much than 350-year-old company's celebrated stripes — and made immoderate of the archetypal broad coats for the retailer backmost successful the 1970s, she said.

"It's the lone remaining nationalist section store successful Canada, and I deliberation it'll impact each Canadians successful immoderate way, signifier oregon signifier due to the fact that of that," said Freed.

According to the creditor list, Freed and Freed International Ltd. is owed $12,295. Freed said that fig is inaccurate, but she declined to say how overmuch the institution is owed.

She besides said she isn't definite if immoderate fiscal losses volition beryllium recouped.

Ryan Smith, wide manager of Standard Electrical Contractors, says the Hudson's Bay Company hasn't paid for astir $24,000 of electrical work done by his St. Andrews-based company, which helium said has been a contractor astatine 3 Bay locations successful Winnipeg over the past 25 years.

"We fundamentally stopped doing immoderate enactment determination conscionable due to the fact that we knew that we astir apt wouldn't beryllium paid," Smith said.

After seeing the nationalist database of creditors, helium thinks it's "very improbable that we'll spot anything," helium said.

"Looking astatine each the totals of each the different companies that are owed money, I'm reasonably definite that we astir apt won't spot a cent."

The Bay wracked up its highest bills successful Manitoba successful proscription and abstraction rental, including much than $969,000 owed to TransX, according to the creditors document.

The institution owes astir $521,000 to OPB Realty, the landlord for its St. Vital promenade location, $520,784. Among Manitoba suppliers, the largest bill owed by the Bay is $213,926 owed to Winnipeg's Crown Cap (1987) Ltd., which makes headwear.

 Smith said portion it's unfortunate, the Bay's closing whitethorn beryllium a motion of things to come.

"Unfortunately, we'll beryllium seeing … more stories and things of this quality successful the adjacent fewer years," helium said.

Waterfield said she's not definite however Klondike Sterling Glove could regenerate the mislaid concern from the Bay, particularly fixed the uncertainty astir U.S. tariffs, which "will person a precise ample interaction for me," she said.

"I don't cognize what benignant of maturation I'm going to get retired of that marketplace, truthful I whitethorn person to look offshore to Europe and overseas to spot if there's immoderate opportunities," said Waterfield.

"And if determination isn't, past I'll astir apt adjacent my doors."