Nine months to liquidation: Hudson’s Bay’s rapid demise

A women leaves the Hudson Bay Company store in Toronto on November 1, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette (Nathan Denette)

The collapse of Hudson’s Bay has moved from store closures to court hearings meant to decide the fate of the fallen retailer’s assets, which include leases, artifacts and art, and its royal charter.

Here’s a timeline detailing at how Canada’s oldest company is winding down:

March 7, 2025: HBC files for creditor protection with the Ontario Superior Court.

March 23, 2025: B.C. mall owner Ruby Liu says she wants to buy HBC trademarks and properties.

March 24, 2025: HBC begins liquidating all but six stores.

April 24, 2025: HBC gets court permission to begin exploring an auction of its royal charter and 4,400 pieces of art and artifacts.

April 25, 2025: HBC begins liquidating its remaining six stores.

May 15, 2025: HBC announces Canadian Tire will pay $30 million for its intellectual property, including the HBC name, its iconic stripes and its coat of arms.

May 23, 2025: HBC announces a deal to sell up to 28 of its store leases to Liu, who wants to launch “a new modern department store.”

June 1, 2025: HBC closes all stores.

June 3, 2025: Court approves sale of HBC trademarks to Canadian Tire and also places a joint real estate venture HBC has with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust into receivership.

June 6, 2025: Former HBC employees file a class-action lawsuit seeking a share of the defunct retailer’s pension surplus. The workers were enrolled in a pension plan offered by Simpsons, a rival department store HBC bought in the ’70s.

June 19, 2025: Court documents show landlords at the properties Liu wants to move her department store into are opposed to her taking over HBC leases.

June 23, 2025: HBC gets permission to sell Liu three of the 28 leases she wants. The three leases are all in malls she owns.

June 26, 2025: Liu gets the key to the former Saks OFF 5th store in the Tsawwassen Mills mall in Delta, B.C., making it the first of the HBC leases she takes possession of.

July 8, 2025: HBC lender Restore Capital LLC asks a court to stop the defunct retailer from selling up to 25 of its leases to Liu and appoint a “super monitor” to more prudently liquidate the remainder of its assets.

July 25, 2025: Court filings show HBC has struck a deal to sell five leases to YM Inc., which owns Bluenotes and Suzy Shier, for $5.03 million. The documents also show Ivanhoe Realties Inc. has agreed to pay $20,000 for a lease at Metrotown in Burnaby, B.C., that its parent company Ivanhoe Cambridge owns.

July 29, 2025: HBC asks a court to force landlords to let Liu takeover leases.

July 30, 2025: The Canadian Museum of History announces Wittington Investments Ltd., a private Canadian holding company for the Weston family, wants to buy the charter for $12.5 million and donate it to the Quebec institution.

July 31, 2025: HBC gets permission to sell leases to YM Inc. and Ivanhoe Realties Inc.

Aug. 6, 2025: HBC transfers the Zellers trademarks to Les Ailes de la Mode Inc., a defunct Quebec retailer run by fashion mogul Isaac Benitah.

Aug. 13, 2025: HBC changes its name and those of its subsidiaries to numbered companies.

Aug. 21, 2025: A holding company owned by David Thomson, the billionaire chairman of Thomson Reuters, says in court filings that it wants to buy the charter for at least $15 million. The holding company will donate the historic document to the Archives of Manitoba.

Aug. 28 and 29, 2025: Court holds two marathon days of hearings to decide whether Liu should get to buy remaining 25 leases.

Sept. 25, 2025: HBC gets permission to auction off art and artifacts in a live auction and a series of online ones.

Sept. 29, 2025: Court hearing where HBC is scheduled to ask for permission to auction off charter gets adjourned when an unsolicited bid from a mystery buyer is received.

Oct. 9, 2025: Heffel Fine Art Auction House reveals 27 HBC paintings to be auctioned off.

Oct. 24, 2025: HBC loses fight to sell 25 leases to Liu as judge sides with landlords.

Nov. 14, 2025: The Thomson and Weston family holding companies agree to team up on $18 million joint bid for the royal charter. If successful, they say they will donate the charter to the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, and the Royal Ontario Museum.

Nov. 19, 2025: Heffel hosts live auction for 27 HBC paintings.

Dec. 3, 2025: HBC announces Thomson and Weston families had the winning, uncontested bid in the royal charter auction.

Dec. 4, 2025: Heffel closes first of online auctions to sell HBC art and artifacts.

Dec. 11, 2025: Ontario court grants HBC permission to sell the charter to the Thomson and Weston family holding companies.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press