Hudson’s Bay to reportedly lay off over 8,300 employees as stores shutter

Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay is believed to be laying off 8,347 employees as it comes close to finalising its store closures.

According to documents seen by Reuters, around 89 percent of the company’s workforce will be laid off once it concludes its liquidation sale and store closures this Sunday, June 1.

Among the remaining 1,017 employees, 899 are anticipated to be cut by June 15 when distribution centres are expected to close, the media outlet said.

The remaining employees are to aid in the company’s winding up process under Canada’s Creditors Arrangement Act.

Hudson’s Bay announced plans to liquidate its Canadian store estate in March and, upon not finding a suitable successor amid a restructuring process, began enacting the programme in the preceding months.

Last week, the company announced that its intellectual property, including its name and logo, had been snapped up in a 30 million Canadian dollar deal by Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC).

CTC, which is expected to close the transaction later this summer, also stated that it had “bid for a handful of lease locations” among the retailer’s store estate. It is just one of 12 parties said to have bid on 39 of 96 Hudson’s Bay leases across Canada.

Up to 28 of these are currently being pursued by Chinese investor Ruby Liu, who plans to build a “new modern department store” at the undisclosed locations.