On Friday liquidation sales began at Ted Baker, Brooks Brothers and Lucky Brand stores in Canada, as well as at Ted Baker stores in the United States which are owned by Ted Baker Canada. Ted Baker Canada recently obtained protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and Alvarez & Marsal has been named the monitor.
Liquidation sales began Friday at 25 Canadian locations for the three retail banners, with store closures to follow. Ted Baker Canada also operates 31 Ted Baker stores in the United States under its Ted Baker Limited Division, which are also being liquidated. Ecommerce websites for the Ted Baker and Brooks Brothers brands in Canada have already been decommissioned with a message that they are ‘under maintenance’. Emails were sent out to customers today announcing store closures and liquidations. Staff in stores on Friday told Retail Insider that the liquidation sales at Ted Baker and Brooks Brothers stores will be ongoing to the end of July, or when merchandise sells out.
Initial discounts in stores were between 10% and 30% on Friday, and discounts are expected to increase in the coming days as the sale continues for the liquidation. The company said in a press release Friday evening that all sales are final and that online shopping is no longer available “for the time being”.
On May 3, Ted Baker Canada obtained a Canadian court order approving the liquidation process, and received approval from a U.S. court on May 8 — on the same day, a U.S. Court entered an order recognizing the CCAA proceedings, giving effect to the orders of the Canadian Court in the United States.
Ted Baker expanded into the Canadian market in 2012 with a first store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The location moved to a new space in 2019 where it operates today, now under liquidation. Since 2012, Ted Baker has opened standalone stores across Canada. That includes Toronto locations at the Toronto Premium Outlets, CF Toronto Eaton Centre and CF Sherway Gardens; Vancouver stores at CF Pacific Centre and the McArthurGlen outlets; in Montreal at CF Carrefour Laval; in Ottawa at CF Rideau Centre, and in Calgary at CF Chinook Centre. Ted Baker also operates concessions in Hudson’s Bay stores in downtown Toronto, Yorkdale, downtown Vancouver, and CF Chinook Centre in Calgary.
In the United States, Ted Baker Limited’s 31 Ted Baker-branded stores include a mix of full-priced standalone locations, outlet stores, and concessions within Bloomingdale’s. Stores are in major markets across the country, according to the US website.
The first Brooks Brothers store in Canada opened at 1026 Alberni Street in Vancouver in May of 2009 — that store closed several months ago. Brooks Brothers expanded over the years and now has full-priced stores in Toronto at Royal Bank Plaza, CF Shops at Don Mills and 157 Bloor Street West in Toronto, as well as a large store at The Core in downtown Calgary which opened in 2010. The brand also has ‘factory stores’ (outlets) at Vaughan Mills, Toronto Premium Outlets, the Outlet Collection at Niagara, and Tsawwassen Mills.
Lucky Brand has stores in Canada including at the Toronto Premium Outlets, Vaughan Mills, Tanger Outlets Ottawa, Outlet Collection at Niagara, and at the Outlet Collection Winnipeg. Stores were being liquidated Friday. Lucky Brand also had a store at White Oaks Mall in London that closed in July of last year and was replaced by Bluenotes.
The Bloor Street Brooks Brothers store relocated to the former Club Monaco building at 157 Bloor Street West in February of this year — plans were in place for the store to operate there for at least a year if not more. Brooks Brothers had been located at 83 Bloor Street West before that (operating from the summer of 2022 until February 2024), and prior to that, at 110 Bloor Street West where Saint Laurent now operates its new Canadian flagship. The Brooks Brothers location at Royal Bank Plaza is said to be the largest in the company. The large downtown Calgary Brooks Brothers store is in space once occupied by Holt Renfrew, which relocated in 2009 to a much larger location.
The Yorkdale Ted Baker space is remarkable, given its location across from Apple in a luxury wing created in 2012. A luxury brand could take its place in its 4,300 square foot space, given its neighbours that include Ralph Lauren, Emporio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Celine and others. Ted Baker’s other Canadian locations are exceptional and will likely be leased quickly if they close.
The owners of Ted Baker’s Canadian operations filed for creditor protection last month in a bid to help the retailer get enough “breathing room” to decide whether to liquidate and wind down the business or pursue other unspecified alternatives. Liquidation is now the goal as product is cleared out of stores across the country.
In court filings last month, lawyers for the ownership group OSL Fashion Canada Inc. and OSL Fashion Services Inc. said that the clothing brand was facing “significant” liquidity challenges and has been “unsuccessful” in reducing costs, improving sales and reaching positive cash flow in Canada.
In March of 2023, OSL Fashion Canada and OSL Fashion Services bought an equity interest in Ted Baker’s Canadian and U.S. operations from Authentic Brands Group (ABG)’s No Ordinary Design Label (NODL) subsidiary. The Ted Baker Canada owners had licensing agreements with NODL and ABG, whose partners pay suppliers in the Ted Baker supply chain. The Ted Baker Canada owners said that some of those payments have not been made, causing “substantial disruptions.”
NODL’s insolvency proceedings in the U.K. last month caused further problems for some of Ted Baker Canada’s suppliers to accelerate payment terms. ABG owns the Ted Baker, Lucky Brand and Brooks Brothers brands.
Retail Insider recently interviewed several experts on the filing and why Ted Baker Canada struggled and is now shutting down.
Additional Photos from Brooks Brothers Royal Bank Plaza
Photos from Brooks Brothers Bloor Street
Seems like that Brooks Brothers opened in the Massey building in Toronto just yesterday. One wonders why Authentic Brands Group even bothered, given its supplier payment issues. Perhaps that investment was influenced by their Canadian business partners. Well, now the building will soon be available again; it would make a great location for one of Restoration Hardware’s flagship “gallery” stores. The Lillian Massey edifice is on brand with the nicely done heritage buildings RH has already renovated in New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. This is another cautionary note for foreign retailers on the pitfalls of superficial analysis of the Canadian market, treating it as a sort of attic of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of them flock to the same locations in Toronto and Vancouver, as they completely leapfrog the Quebec market. Then maybe follow up with a store in Calgary at Chinook or Edmonton at guess-where, and that’s that for Canada.
No surprise!
Greed based expansion without understanding the Canadian market. I’m sad for the staff in the stores.