With all 16 of the Hudson Bay Company’s British Columbia stores now slated to close their doors, the liquidation sale will begin on Monday.
While B.C. shoppers may be sad to lose the Bay, Simon Fraser University marketing professor emeritus Lindsay Meredith says they’re also eager for deals.
“Are the vultures circling? You bet your boots they are,” said Meredith, who added the Bay’s high-end merchandise will be a particular draw for bargain hunters.
“As soon as people hear markdown and big names and high-end products, are they going to move in on that? Yeah, I would say you’re going to see some lineups and some shoving and pushing,” Meredith said.
But he cautioned shoppers not to expect deep discounts on day one.
“The people who are responsible for the liquidating would be lynched if they gave away too much product,” said Meredith. “Those creditors want every last cent they can get their hands on.”
So he predicts the discounts will start small, and shoppers will have to decide what their price point is.
“You may want to have that really, really nice jacket or whatever, and you’re afraid somebody else is going to get that. So maybe you’re going to have to bite at the 10 per cent cut instead of hoping you’re going to get the 50 per cent cut, because by then it’s history and you lost and somebody got it,” Meredith said.
There has already been a run on the iconic Bay striped blankets and other bedding products, and Meredith expects that to continue as shoppers try to snap up a piece of our country’s retail history.
“As Canadiana, will it be missed? Yeah, absolutely It’ll be missed,” he said. “Was the iconic image strong enough to overcome the dollar bill? No, it wasn’t.”
