The impending liquidation of Hudson’s Bay stores across Canada may offer a silver lining for landlords —provided they’re ready to think outside the traditional department-store box, say retail real estate experts.

“I think it’s a massive opportunity for landlords to reinvent,” Camenzuli, vice-president of retail CBRE, told the Canadian

The Bay has begun liquidating 74 of its branded stores and 15 bearing Saks brands. Currently, only six stores are slated to remain open as the iconic company seeks to emerge from creditor protection.

Many of the stores are large and located in prime locations, including downtown areas in major markets and numerous urban and suburban malls that they anchor.

Landlords have been think about repurposing Bay stores for years, CP reported. Bay issues aside, several mall owners are repurposing their properties to include pickleball courts, medical offices and other health and wellness services among other uses.

But few retailers, other than big-box store operators like Walmart, Canadian Tire and the Brick, along with grocery outlets, would want all of the spaces in stores that the Bay leaves, Toran Eggert, who advised landlords before she became managing partner at Toronto-based real estate brokerage Urban Reform Realty, told CP.

“The size of the floor plans are massive, and in today’s world, people just aren’t looking for anything that big and that’s going to be a real challenge,” Lanita Layton, a luxury and retail consultant who was once a vice-president at Holt Renfrew, told CP.

She imagines that a European department store could take over stores but thinks it’s much more likely that mall operators will break up the spaces in stores, as has occurred in the past with the closure of large Nordstrom department stores and other outlets.

Camenzuli told CP that she foresees potential escape room or driving or golf simulator operators entering the market. Kate Black, the Vancouver-based author of Big Mall, anticipates that more pickleball courts, which are increasing at malls across Canada and medical services will take up spaces following the Bay’s departure.

Both Camenzuli and Black also foresee landlords converting former Bay locations to multi-residential offerings. (Many mall owners have teamed up with developers to develop rental-apartment and condominium towers on adjacent lands.)

But Black told CP that many Bay store closures will not lead to redevelopment and could put the viability of entire malls at risk.

“When those main-event tenants like the Bay close down, the rest of the mall is put at threat,” Black told CP. “So, it’s not just the Bay closing, but now the food court is at risk of shutting down.”

However, Black warned some malls, like those in smaller towns, may not get a shot at reinvention because the Bay’s departure will be a death knell for the entire property.

“When those main event tenants like the Bay close down, the rest of the mall is put at threat,” Black said. “So it’s not just the Bay closing, but now the food court is at risk of shutting down.”

Pictured: Hudson’s Bay store in Oshawa, Ont.

Photo: Bob Hilscher / Shutterstock.com

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