Hudson's Bay to close remaining Ontario stores initially believed to be spared

The six Hudson's Bay department stores in Ontario and Quebec that were spared from closure have found their reprieve to be only temporary.

Hopes for retaining these locations to potentially continue a seamless, downsized existence of the iconic Canadian retailer, which was first founded 354 years ago as a fur trading business, have now faded.

This, it seems, is where the curtain finally falls on an era of a storied company.

In a new court filing that has yet to be published at the time of writing, the six store locations added to the liquidation and imminent closure list now include the heritage downtown Toronto flagship store at 176 Yonge St., the Yorkdale Shopping Centre store in Toronto, and the Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

In Quebec, the remaining locations that will close include the heritage downtown Montreal flagship store at 585 Saint-Catherine St. W., CF Carrefour Laval mall, and CF Fairview Pointe-Claire mall.

Liquidation at these six remaining locations will begin on Friday, April 25, 2025, according to the Canadian Press.

We have reached out to Hudson's Bay for comment.

A joint venture between Hudson's Bay and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust owns 12 store locations, including the Yorkdale, downtown Montreal, and CF Carrefour Laval.

Commercial landlord Cadillac Fairview (CF) owns the downtown Toronto flagship store building and the adjacent office tower.

In 2014, Hudson's Bay sold its downtown Toronto building to CF in a deal worth $650 million, with long-term, lease-back terms with renewal options. Shortly after the sale, the pedestrian overpass above Queens Street — linking the department store building with CF Eaton Centre mall — was completely overhauled.

In 2023, CF provided Hudson's Bay with a $200 million loan to keep this particular location open.

On March 21, 2025, these six locations were originally excluded from Hudson's Bay list of 90 store liquidations and closures, including 74 department stores, three Saks Fifth Avenue stores, and 13 Saks OFF 5th outlet stores. The liquidation of these stores began the following week.

One of these Saks Fifth Avenue stores is integrated into the Hudson's Bay flagship store in downtown Toronto.

The downtown Toronto building spans about 850,000 sq. ft., including 676,000 sq. ft. for Hudson's Bay and 175,000 sq. ft. for Saks Fifth Avenue. The downtown Montreal building is 655,000 sq. ft. Both buildings were first constructed in the late 1800s, before subsequent renovations and expansions for the structures that exist today.

There is immense uncertainty in the commercial retail market, as Hudson's Bay releases millions of square feet of real estate nationwide — including major anchor units in shopping malls and prominent spaces in downtown cores. Hudson's Bay is in the process of looking for tenants to fill many of these locations.

Given the ramp-up time likely required for clearance, these six locations are now expected to be among the last stores to close. The original list of 90 locations is under a liquidation and closure timeline of no later than the end of June 2025.