A minority shareholder of Hudson’s Bay Co. is asking the special committee of the company’s board to get an appraisal of the retailer’s “incredibly valuable” real estate and take other measures “to ensure that minority shareholders receive fair value for their investment.”
The special committee of directors is in the midst of evaluating a $9.45 a share privatization proposal from a group led by HBC chairman Richard Baker.
Paradise Developments, a Toronto-based private equity investment and real estate development company that became a shareholder of HBC in August and owns 1. 2 million common shares, called the Baker group’s offer “clearly inadequate.”
“At $9.45 per share, the … offer doesn’t come close to cover the value of HBC’s real estate and any of its upside potential, which may be realized through development, joint ventures and spinoff scenarios,” Paradise Developments said in a letter to the special committee, which it made public on Wednesday.
(TORONTO STAR PAYWALL) Picking through court filings in Canada and the U.S. we see that the vast majority of the company’s Canadian stores were not profitable. The Canadian stores have collectively recorded yearly losses since 2014. Occupancy costs absorbed a disproportionate amount of revenue, the firm complains. (Ivanhoe Cambridge, Cadillac Fairview and Oxford Properties hold the majority of the leases.) In his declaration to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Forever 21’s chief restructuring officer Jonathan Goulding labelled Canada an “albatross,” alongside the company’s European operations. Solution: ditch the underperforming outposts; shrink the footprint; emerge from bankruptcy protection.
What did the pursuit of this dream deliver to Canada, where the chain grew to 44 stores? Twenty-two of those are in Ontario, by far the largest Canadian presence for the chain, with Quebec, at eight stores, running a distant second.
An Indigenous educator is asking clothing franchise Urban Planet to remove its line of T-shirts that feature the word “savage.”
This Friday, October 4th, Everlane is returning to Pop-In@Nordstrom to present customers an assortment of various luxury essentials, starting from outerwear made with recycled plastic to carbon-neutral shoes and the world’s cleanest denim. Everlane, the retailer mostly known for its commitment to quality and sustainability, launches their shops at Nordstrom Eaton Centre and Nordstrom Pacific Centre in Canada.
A new shopper study by American global management consulting firm, A.T. Kearney surveyed 1,500 respondents spanning four generational groups (including 450 Canadians) to get a better understanding of attitudinal differences with respect to retail across the 49th parallel.
Among the key findings, Gen Zers in Canada are less attracted to social and environmental-linked products than their American cousins. When asked whether they agree with the statement: “I prefer products that are linked to a social mission,” 38% of Gen Z Americans, versus only 20% of Gen Z Canadians, said they do.
When it comes to the in-store experience, Canadians are a slightly more forgiving bunch than Americans, which has implications for bricks-and-mortar retailers. Gen Z in the U.S. are more likely to let negative experiences deter them from a purchase than their Canadian counterparts.
Best Buy’s newest campaign is demonstrating that its staff is not just trained with the tech they sell, but use it in their personal lives, as it looks to focus on knowledge and advice over product selection.
The newest spot from the retailer features its recognizeable “Blue Shirt” advisors using tablets, smart fridges and smart lights both in store with customers in their own homes. It ends under the tagline “we know tech because we live it.”
Porsche Canada has opened its first national parts distribution centre in Mississauga, Ont., providing overnight delivery service — by ground and air — to its 19 dealers across the country.