A British Columbia-based billionaire and prominent Canadian shopping centre owner has confirmed she has submitted a bid to acquire 25 Hudson’s Bay store locations, injecting new intrigue into the fate of one of Canada’s most storied retail brands.
Weihong Liu, the chairwoman of Central Walk, told the Toronto Star on Wednesday that she has already paid money toward the purchase, following public statements made earlier this month on Chinese social media app RedNote. In a series of videos, Liu declared her intent to acquire “dozens of stores,” describing the opportunity as transformational for both her business and the Canadian retail landscape.
“The money has already been paid,” Liu said to the Toronto Star when asked directly whether a bid had been submitted. She also indicated she would hold a press conference in 10 days, presumably to reveal more details.
Bidding Deadline and Sale Conditions
Liu’s confirmation to the Toronto Star came just hours before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline for final bids for Hudson’s Bay assets, including the chain’s store locations and its intellectual property portfolio, which encompasses the brand’s recognizable logos and its iconic stripes.
As per court-supervised sale terms, each “final qualified bid” must include a refundable deposit of no less than 10 percent of the proposed purchase price, alongside documentation confirming committed financing. Each bidder must also outline plans for retaining Hudson’s Bay employees—a critical concern amid the company’s mass layoffs and liquidation.
“We need to hire workers, recruit people and attract investment, so the time is tight to get the work done,” Liu told the Star in Mandarin. “The landlords will hand over the keys in June and charge me rent.”
A National Liquidation Underway
Hudson’s Bay, Canada’s oldest retailer, entered full liquidation earlier this year across more than 80 store locations, following a court-approved restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
Initially, six stores were slated to remain open, but on April 25, those too were put into liquidation after the retailer concluded there was “low probability of receiving a viable bid based on the six-store model.”
That hasn’t stopped hopeful interest. In an April 22 court filing, Hudson’s Bay disclosed that 18 parties had expressed interest in 65 of its store leases, while 36 leases had drawn no interest. The retailer now faces the prospect of disclaiming unclaimed leases, returning them to landlords.
Quebec may not be part of the locations being bid on by Liu, as her business partner, Linda Qin, stated in an April video that the “more than 20 stores” in their bid were in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.
This geographic focus could signal the beginning of a regional play by Liu, with possible implications for Quebec where no active store bids have yet been publicly identified.
Liu’s Expansion and Revival Plans
Liu, who immigrated to Canada after selling a Shenzhen-based mall in 2019 for over $1 billion, has since assembled a portfolio of shopping centres in British Columbia through Central Walk. These include Tsawwassen Mills south of Vancouver, Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria, and Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo—the latter listed for sale in early April shortly after Liu announced her intent to acquire Hudson’s Bay stores.
In a video posted to RedNote on April 3, Liu shared her motivation for entering the bidding process. “I saw The Bay closing down, and I saw how sad Canadians were. It moved me deeply … That ignited my fighting spirit,” she said.
Her goal, she added, is to “revive the retail industry, solve employment issues, create miracles, and make The Bay great again.”
In a separate April 17 video, Liu encouraged merchants to contact her to participate in a post-liquidation retail model she’s developing. “There are over 20 stores,” she said. “These stores are in city centres — the kind of prime locations we couldn’t get into before. Hurry up, if you have merchandise.”
Qin added that a warehouse sale would take place at select Hudson’s Bay stores after the official liquidation wraps in June, further underscoring the urgency of her team’s planning.
Bid from Urbana Corp. and Market Uncertainty
Liu’s is one of only two bids that have been made public. The other comes from Toronto-based investment firm Urbana Corp., which has made an offer for Hudson’s Bay’s intellectual property and brand assets, but not for store leases.
Thomas Caldwell, CEO of Urbana, told the Financial Post that he believes acquiring the HBC brand and Royal Charter could be profitable. However, his bid does not involve operating physical stores.
Hudson’s Bay and financial adviser Reflect Advisors have remained tight-lipped on the number of qualified bids received to date. However, Reflect’s Managing Director Adam Zalev said interest has been high. “With the bid deadline in the sales process approaching this week, the high level of sales at the stores really helps to prove the strength of the Canadian consumer and their desire to help support Hudson’s Bay, an iconic Canadian institution,” Zalev told The Canadian Press.
What’s Next: Auction and Court Approval
If multiple qualified bids are received, a court-supervised auction could take place in mid-May. Hudson’s Bay is scheduled to return to court by May 30 to seek approval of any completed sales.
The possibility remains that if a strong enough bid is received—such as Liu’s—the retailer could reverse some liquidation decisions and keep select stores open under new ownership. That would mark a stunning development for a company once considered beyond saving.
Liu’s bid, with its emotionally charged messaging and strategic retail ambitions, could represent not just a financial play but a highly symbolic gesture of revival in Canadian retail. Whether she becomes Hudson’s Bay’s next owner—or merely one of many suitors—remains to be seen.
Liu’s proposal is intriguing. And given that she is apparently the only bidder actually interested in operating a chain of department stores (the other bidders seem to only want the HBC name and the right to sell Point blankets) we should all be hoping that her offer wins out. I do wonder, however, about the wisdom of trying to take over HBC locations in city centres. Downtown retail has taken a beating post-pandemic, and besides that city centre sites are the ones most likely to be successfully redeveloped or acquired by developers who want the land.
What is truly needed is a revived HBC to anchor some of Canada’s key malls: Yorkdale, Polo Park, Chinook, Southgate, Square One among others. Major malls are the ones that will be hit hardest by losing their last national department store anchor, and shopping centres that now stand to lose HBC are the same ones that previously had to endure the exit of Sears and Target. (Translation: don’t think it will be easy for most mall landlords to subdivide HBC space and re-lease it. The tenants they most wanted to get into their shopping centres have already taken former Sears and Target space.)