Ruby Liu held a job fair in downtown Toronto on Saturday attended by former Hudson’s Bay Company employees and other prospective hires, despite not securing 25 more leases of its former store spaces yet.

Meanwhile, Liu told The Toronto Star that she has hired a new lawyer after an Ontario judge delayed a decision on senior lenders’ attempt to scrap the lease-purchase deal last week because she came to court without one. Restore Capital, a lender and the group’s representative is seeking to cancel the Bay’s agreement to sell the leases to Liu.

According to multiple reports, hundreds of prospective hires seeking to work for her proposed new Canadian department-store chain attended the event. The fair was also held for prospective vendors interested in doing business with her.

“I am confident that we are going to get the stores, so we are preparing for that,” Liu told reporters during the event.

She spoke in Mandarin with her comments interpreted by Linda Qin, CEO of her company Central Walk.

“We have received almost a thousand resumés online,” said Liu. “I wanted to meet these candidates in person. I can feel their enthusiasm.”

The event was held at the InterContinental Hotel, and Liu took selfies with many of the would-be employees and vendors, according to the reports.

Liu told the Star that she will hold another fair next Saturday in Toronto. Thousands of Bay employees lost their jobs when Canada’s oldest company closed all of its Bay and Saks-branded department stores across Canada on June 1 as part of the creditor-protection process and business wind-down.

Liu also told the Star that she has hired Janet Lee of law firm Metcalfe Blainey & Burns as her new legal counsel after her previous lawyers quit two days before last week’s court hearing. Expressing disappointment with the previous lawyers’ move, Liu pledged to submit a new business plan by the end of this month.

The Bay agreed to sell Liu the 25 leases covering former stores in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan for an undisclosed price. Most of the malls’ landlords (23), including Cadillac Fairview, have formally opposed the deal, citing her lack of experience running a large department-store chain, insufficient information about her plans and unrealistic profit projections.

“They think we’re not capable,” Liu told the Star. “They think I’m not good enough. But how can you say that if you’ve never even given me a chance? I’m a changemaker.”

She pledged to work with the landlords more and share profits with them, according to the reports.

“Actually, landlords don’t need to rush,” she told the Star. “Just give me the stores for a year and see what I can do. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, they can get them back for free.”

If the Canadian stores are successful, the chain, to be known as Ruby Liu, will expand across North America and the rest of the world, she told reporters.

Liu told reporters that she has committed $300 million of her own cash towards store renovations.

The court has already approved her acquisition of three leases covering former Bay stores in B.C. malls that she owns.

Pictured: Then-open Hudson’s Bay store at Conestoga Mall in Kitchener, Ont.

Photo: Shutterstock