A B.C.-based billionaire mall owner plans to launch a new department-store chain after agreeing to acquire 28 Hudson’s Bay Company store leases.

Weihong (Ruby) Liu has indicated publicly that she will also overhaul the Bay store model. Liu became the first prospective lease purchaser to strike a deal with Canada’s oldest company, which is undergoing creditor protection. The Bay announced the deal in a news release.

The definitive agreement covers leases at Bay locations in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.

The leases include three Bay locations at Liu’s malls in the Vancouver area, Victoria, B.C., and Nanaimo, B.C. It remains to be seen whether she will redevelop the Bay store spaces at her malls as mixed-use assets. The Nanaimo mall has been listed for sale, according to reports.

The locations of the other Bay stores covered in the leases were not disclosed.

She agreed to acquire the leases through Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corporation. The firm is the parent company of Central Walk, her company that owns the three B.C. malls.

Central Walk has issued a news release stating that “the store locations will be transformed into modern department stores, bridging the gap between generations, providing immersive shopping experiences, and becoming a destination where all age groups thrive together.”

Liu has also pledged to retain Bay employees, but multiple reports indicated that some are being recruited by other department-store chains. Bay landlords must still approve the proposed deal.

The lease-purchase agreement came after Canadian Tire agreed to acquire Hudson’s Bay Company brand assets for $30 million.

“We wanted to buy [the brand assets] as well,” Liu told Postmedia. “But Canadian Tire is a giant company with deep pockets and we are a smaller company.

“It’s also the pride of Canada. They offered more money.”

As a result, Liu plans to launch her new chain under the brand New Bay.

In recent posts in Mandarin on the Rednote social media network, she has displayed a pink diamond logo bearing her surname with the brand name underneath it.

All 80 Hudson’s Bay Company stores and 15 Saks-branded outlets are slated to close in June after the department-store chain completes liquidation sales. The business is not expected to survive.

Pictured: Hudson’s Bay store at Market Mall in Calgary.

Photo: © Monte Stewart. All rights reserved. No republishing permitted.

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