Sources formerly working for Ruby Liu confirmed with Retail Insider that their employment contracts ended on Friday, October 31. The team, assembled in April 2025, had been central to Liu’s vision of launching a new Ruby Liu department store chain across Canada, occupying as many as 27 former Hudson’s Bay locations. The sudden end of their contracts comes days after a decisive Ontario Superior Court ruling against Liu’s bid to acquire the leases.
According to multiple former employees, the Ruby Liu department store team had been coordinating efforts to secure former Hudson’s Bay spaces for the chain. The group, some of whom lived communally near Tsawwassen Mills in South Delta, British Columbia, worked long hours developing strategy, recruitment pipelines, and operational models for the proposed chain. They were also involved in building a detailed business plan intended to support Liu’s litigation efforts.
Over the summer, the team accompanied Liu across Canada, staying with her in several Toronto Airbnb residences near court hearings. Despite long-standing optimism that the project would proceed following a deal with Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), their sudden dismissal has cast serious doubt on whether Liu will continue pursuing her retail ambitions.
Leadership and Absence
Sources said that Linda Qin, who had been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Ruby Liu’s retail venture, remains with the company currently. Meanwhile, Ruby Liu herself is in Thailand, where she has been since early October.
While the Ruby Liu department store team has been released, other employees within Liu’s Central Walk organization remain active. Staff at Central Walk continue to oversee operations and business development across her three shopping centres. Their current work includes the launch of two significant additions at Tsawwassen Mills: a new pickleball facility and a large-scale food hall, both scheduled to open before the end of this year. New retailers and activations have also been introduced at her Mayfair and Woodgrove centres, which Liu continues to own and operate.
The decision to dissolve the department store team suggests that Liu is stepping back from her broader retail expansion plans. However, her continued investment in mall-level amenities indicates an ongoing effort to strengthen the performance and tenant mix of her existing properties. Without her core retail staff or active court filings, the Ruby Liu department store concept appears to have reached a standstill.
Retail Vision and Court Ruling
Liu’s plan had been ambitious. As a billionaire real estate investor based in British Columbia, she sought to transform 25 former HBC stores into a new Canadian department store chain under her own name. Her proposal also included converting two of her own mall properties, Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria and Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo, into anchor stores for the Ruby Liu brand.
However, her plan faltered after Ontario Superior Court Justice Peter Osborne ruled against her on October 24, 2025. The court found that Liu had failed to demonstrate adequate financial capacity or operational readiness to assume the leases, siding instead with major landlords such as Cadillac Fairview, Oxford Properties, Primaris, and La Caisse (formerly Ivanhoé Cambridge).
The Lease Disclaimer and Its Implications
Following the ruling, HBC began disclaiming its leases, a legal step that effectively ends tenant obligations by terminating agreements before their expiry. As long as no landlords object, these lease disclaimers will take effect on November 27, 2025, returning control of the properties to their owners.
This decision ends HBC’s effort to liquidate its lease portfolio under court supervision and signals the collapse of Liu’s attempt to revive a department store network through those sites.
The disclaimer process effectively returns the properties to their respective landlords, releasing Hudson’s Bay from any remaining rent or maintenance obligations. With the leases now disclaimed, there is no remaining path forward for Ruby Liu’s original department store plan.
HBC’s Financial Collapse
Hudson’s Bay Company, one of the oldest business institutions in North America, filed for creditor protection in March 2025 with approximately $1.1 billion in outstanding debt. The retailer, once Canada’s dominant department store operator, had been losing market share for years to both luxury chains and off-price competitors.
After liquidating its 80 remaining stores, as well as 13 Saks OFF 5TH and three Saks Fifth Avenue locations, HBC sought to sell its leases to recoup creditor losses. Ruby Liu quickly emerged as a preferred bidder, offering $69.1 million for 25 leases across the country, in addition to three in her own B.C. malls.
Landlord Resistance, The Fate of Ruby Liu’s Malls
While HBC supported Liu’s bid as a means of repaying creditors, the landlords resisted. They argued that Liu’s business plan was overly optimistic and that her background in property investment did not translate to the operational demands of a national department store chain.
Court filings revealed that Liu’s three B.C. malls had collectively lost nearly $19 million over two years. Landlords expressed concern that those losses undermined her credibility as a retail operator.
Justice Osborne agreed, writing that he had “significant concerns” about Liu’s ability to meet lease terms, and that her financial assurances lacked sufficient verification. He concluded that property owners were not obligated to accept her as a tenant.
After the decision, Liu told the Toronto Star that she intended to appeal. However, any appeal would have required HBC’s cooperation, since the leases remained under its control pending final disposition. With HBC now disclaiming the leases, an appeal appears improbable.
Liu still owns three major shopping centres in British Columbia: Tsawwassen Mills, Woodgrove Centre, and Mayfair Shopping Centre. Two of those, Mayfair and Woodgrove, were intended to host large Ruby Liu department store locations.
However, no construction branding activity or efforts otherwise have been observed. With the team now disbanded and Liu abroad, industry observers doubt that the department store concept will move forward.
Music to my ears. Wake up Canada.
This was the beginning. Bless the judge show saw the light. Canada is not for sale in any form and time.
What happened to the 3 boxes she got back? Why wasn’t she opening her own Ruby Liu stores? Why get rid of her staff? She is such a fraudster.
Worth a look at her arrival in Bc under the investment program. Bought the Union Street Grill restaurant in Courtenay. Had no intention of running it and let the staff run it more or less as forer owners had set up for 5 years until covid hit. By then they were already focused on the malls which was source of money in China. Sold building for more than they paid, sold waterfront home in comox for more than paid. Got kids into bc schools with no foreign fees. Basically bought passports for free. Staff knew they didn’t have a clue about business management.
This proposal was always shady at best, and an outright scam at worst (likely). The judge made the correct decision.
The previous parties in the times colonists outlined all her banks and cash are im China and she has ties to the Chinese government there should be an i. Depth investigation as to who is behind all this cash and where do all the rents flow to China is buying up housing land company’s amd our eyes are closed as for the hbc leases retail is tough so landlords know she would never survive open your stores im the two vacancies you have now especially tassel mills
The fact she is not proceeding with the Ruby stores at the malls she owns speaks volumes the judge made the right decision.