When a judge approved the Hudson Bay Company’s plan to liquidate all but six of its stores across Canada, including all locations in British Columbia, shoppers were told the sale would begin on Monday.
Dozens of eager bargain hunters lined up early at the Park Royal location in West Vancouver Monday morning, but when the doors opened, they quickly learned the liquidation wasn’t happening.
There was no signage ab out the liquidation and markdowns were the same as they were on the weekend.
“I asked a staff member: Where’s all the big sales? And she said it’s not starting until tomorrow. And I queried that, because all the news I saw everywhere said sale starts this morning,” said Linda Fox, a longtime Bay shopper whose husband took the morning off work to check out the liquidation.
“It’s a little disappointing.”
The same scene played out at Bay stores across Canada, with shoppers confused about whether the prices they were seeing were part of the liquidation sale. For many, it took asking a staff member to get clarification that the sale had been delayed until Tuesday.
“I think it’s a little bit of false advertising,” said Fox. “There should’ve been much better communication.”
HBC did not respond to multiple requests from CTV reporters across Canada asking about the timing of the liquidation sale.
“You don’t want to anger the shoppers, especially at this time. But I think in this case, they may not have had the time to get all of this organized,” said Craig Patterson, the founder of Retail Insider. “This would be a huge effort if you think about it, getting all of these signs out and getting everything ready to go.”
While some shoppers who made purchases on Monday were upset when they learned the items weren’t at liquidation prices, Patterson doubts everything will be cheaper on Tuesday.
“Those sales that we’ve seen at Hudson’s Bay, which we’ve seen for years, might end up being at least initially a better deal than what we might see at the liquidation, just depending how the pricing is initially at the liquidation,” Patterson said.
He also expects some luxury brands will remove their merchandise before the big price drops.
“If it’s something to do with the actual brand itself in terms of its image, I wouldn’t blame some brands for not wanting to be part of this liquidation,” said Patterson.
Other items people are hoping to find on sale may not be available by Tuesday.
“Some of their departments are cleaned out. Their towels, there’s not a towel to be had there,” said Fox.
Regardless of when the sale starts and what items will be included, the closure of the stores is the end of an era.
“When I was here on the weekend, people were just talking nostalgia all day,” said Fox. “Very sad to see it go.”
