9263 replies to this topic

[conga]

So not a false alarm then

 

Unfortunate

[Victoria Watcher]

New court documents show the B.C. mall owner hoping to buy dozens of Hudson's Bay leases has offered $6 million to take over three of the properties the department store used in malls she owns.

 

The filing says Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corp. offered $2 million each for Bay leases at Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria, Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo and Tsawwassen Mills.

 

Liu owns all three of the malls under her Central Walk business and has bid on up to 25 other leases held by the Bay.

 

However, lawyers for the Bay have asked a court to approve the transfer of leases only for the three Central Walk locations so far.

 

 

https://www.timescol...uments-10825363

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 June 2025 - 03:44 PM.

[Darren14]

 

New court documents show the B.C. mall owner hoping to buy dozens of Hudson's Bay leases has offered $6 million to take over three of the properties the department store used in malls she owns.

 

The filing says Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corp. offered $2 million each for Bay leases at Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria, Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo and Tsawwassen Mills.

 

Liu owns all three of the malls under her Central Walk business and has bid on up to 25 other leases held by the Bay.

 

However, lawyers for the Bay have asked a court to approve the transfer of leases only for the three Central Walk locations so far.

 

 

https://www.timescol...uments-10825363

 

 

Why would she need to pay for the lease on the locations she owns... wouldn't she just take it over for free as i'm assuming they're not paying rent anymore

[Victoria Watcher]

Why would she need to pay for the lease on the locations she owns... wouldn't she just take it over for free as i'm assuming they're not paying rent anymore

 

Presumably those leases still have some value, but in her cases, the amount paid for them will probably be less the back rent amount owing.  Or some type of formula.

 

 

 

 

The court-supervised process to sell off the company’s leases drew 12 bidders; 62 of the properties received no bids, and Hudson’s Bay is preparing to hand those locations back to landlords.

 

Hudson’s Bay was first granted court protection from its creditors on March 7 under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, as it struggled with mounting losses and trouble paying its bills. The company, which carried $1.1-billion in debt as of early March, has been working to repay its senior lenders with proceeds from its liquidation sales, and by selling off its assets.

 

Unable to find backers for a plan to save even a handful of the stores, the retailer closed all of its 80 Hudson’s Bay locations, as well as two Saks Fifth Avenue and 13 Saks Off Fifth stores that the company operated in Canada. The last of the stores closed for good on June 1, when the clearance sales ended.

 

 

https://www.theglobe...ern-over-lease/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 June 2025 - 09:53 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

An agreement Hudson’s Bay signed to sell about two dozen leases to a B.C. entrepreneur has encountered a major barrier, new court filings show: landlords who own the properties are overwhelmingly opposed to her moving in.

 

The Thursday filing is from Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., a court monitor appointed to help the Bay through creditor protection.

 

The document says landlords representing 23 leases in a group of 25 Liu purchased won’t approve the plan and “would oppose any potential future forced assignment.”

 

The Bay and a spokesperson for Liu both declined to comment.

 

Liu attracted attention last month when Hudson’s Bay announced it had chosen her to purchase up to 28 leases for the retailer and its sister Saks banners in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.

 

Three of those leases were at B.C. malls Liu owns — Tsawwassen Mills, Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Centre. Court documents have shown Liu will pay $2 million for each of those leases.

 

The Bay will ask a court to approve that agreement Monday but has yet to present the broader 25-lease deal to judge Peter Osborne because it has been working to get landlords on board with the plan.

 

https://www.ctvnews....pposition-docs/

 

 

Court documents filed earlier this week showed landlords had “concerns” with the plan but did not detail what they were.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 June 2025 - 09:56 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In 1996, Canadian entrepreneur Gordon Lownds was in the midst of two of the most pivotal moments of his life: The launch of the uber-successful Sleep Country Canada business, and the beginnings of an all-consuming drug addiction.

 

In Cracking Up, what Lownds describes as an “unlikely addict’s memoir,” the Toronto-born entrepreneur recounts his first ever experience with drugs aged 48, his quick descent into addiction and his subsequent recovery less than three years later.

 

The memoir, written a year after recovery, differs from others in that Lownds’ experience was as intense as it was brief. The addiction essentially lasted 1,000 days, he remarks, and had come after a lifetime abstaining from experimentation.

 

“I think I’ve been drunk like 10 times in my entire life, and I can remember each one of them,” he says from his home in Vancouver Island’s Black Creek.

 

“Booze was never a big thing with me, and I’d seen people’s lives get destroyed with drugs … and I just, I just never thought I would ever be in that situation.”

 

Lownds recounts his first experience with drugs as one that had been suggested and then egged-on by his then-girlfriend Annabelle, an exotic dancer from the United States. Just two years short of turning 50, the businessman was at the pinnacle of his career in the midst of expanding Sleep Country Canada’s four initial stores in Vancouver to include over a dozen more across the country.

 

“I was divorced. At the time, my family had moved back to Toronto. I was on my own in Vancouver. I got involved with a stripper from Seattle, which is obviously a bad decision,” he says.

 

Lownds recalls how he let Annabelle move into his penthouse apartment, against his “better judgment,” only to discover she had a hidden addiction to crack cocaine. One afternoon, after another row over her reluctance to complete the treatments Lownds had attempted to enroll her in, she requested he experience the drug to better empathize with her struggles.

 

It was an “ill-advised experiment” that saw him hooked on the substance within six months. Within the year, he was injecting the substance intravenously.

“It was a very rapid descent into the worst possible parts of an addiction,” he says.

 

Lownds transformed from being a lofty businessman terrified of stepping foot in the Downtown Eastside to becoming someone embroiled in the scene to such an extent that sex workers and drug dealers were comrades. Now, he laughs, he could “give tours” of the DTES.

 

Throughout the three-year period of addiction, Lownds estimates he spent over $700,000 on cocaine and the associated lifestyle that comes with it. Yet he describes himself as a high-functioning addict, professing his addiction didn’t impair his ability to drive the Sleep Country Canada business.

 

“From a business point of view, the world didn’t know that I had a problem,” he says.

 

Even in the midst of his recovery journey, spurred on by hitting “rock bottom” via an overdose and an arrest two years in, he was able to create the successful hearing aid retailer Listen Up! Canada.

 

“The recovery probably took me 10 years to get back on my feet, and within three or four years of getting clean, I started that second company, so I was functioning well enough to do that,” he says.

 

“And that turned out quite well.”

 

 

 

https://www.ctvnews....-candid-memoir/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 June 2025 - 11:54 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

High-end furniture business plans to move

 

 

 

 

“Long term, those plans are great,” says Curtis Vertefeuille of Moe’s Furniture Victoria. “But we need something now.”

 

Sale signs are up all over the two-storey showroom, signifying the business’ departure from the space it’s occupied for four years. It’s an uphill battle selling high-end furniture with fewer shoppers through the door.

 

“Things have definitely changed. There is the stigma of coming downtown and the safety, all the stuff that plays into how shoppers feel,” says Vertefeuille.

 

The business is moving, but it’s moving to another smaller space downtown. Before any downtown renaissance happens it’s important for the businesses who can stand their ground, to speak up and form a base for the bounce back they hope is inevitable.

 

“Being part of the downtown vibe and being part of that core is important to us,” says Vertefeuille.

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...ncerns-1262509/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 June 2025 - 09:52 AM.

[Mike K.]

Y Design is also closing, according to staff. But a family member might take over the business and keep it running on Herald. It’s just a hop and a skip from Moe’s.

[Victoria Watcher]

Hudson's Bay receives approval for sale of three leases to Island mall owner Ruby Liu

 

Roby Liu has said she plans to use the leases to open a new department store she will name after herself and fill with dining, entertainment and children’s play spaces

 

https://www.theglobe..._medium=twitter

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 June 2025 - 08:37 AM.

[lanforod]

New options would be cool, but this seems like terrible business sense. IMO, department stores are a historical footnote today.

[Mike K.]

Maybe mid-market department stores, but Costco and Walmart are department stores, too, for budget consumers.

[Victoria Watcher]

It's certainly hard to know how they could plan a successful one.  Or three or 25.  

[Victoria Watcher]

Maybe mid-market department stores, but Costco and Walmart are department stores, too, for budget consumers.

 

I guess what I mean is, what does this woman know that other retailers do not?  How can she compete?

[Mike K.]

Connections to Chinese distribution, to create literal Temu outlets that compete with Walmart, maybe.

[LJ]

They will have entertainment and live shows, food and drink and become quite popular. I don't know for how long, we will have to wait and see.

[Victoria Watcher]

Devon Properties and Avison Young Victoria are pleased to present for sale the Lim Dat Building — a fully revitalized landmark investment opportunity located in the heart of Victoria’s historic Old Town. Comprising 24 residential units and 11 commercial units with frontage along Government Street, the Lim Dat Building seamlessly blends heritage architecture with modern upgrades. The Lim Dat Building is celebrated as the longest-standing building in Victoria’s Chinatown and has undergone nearly $1.8 million in capital improvements since 2015. The property offers a mix of stabilized and value-add tenancies, with below-market rents and renovation potential in select units, presenting a rare chance to acquire a character-rich asset with income growth potential. This is a unique opportunity to invest in one of Victoria’s most vibrant, high-traffic corridors, anchored by strong retail demand, exceptional walkability, and a rich cultural legacy.

 

https://www.realtor....ctoria-downtown

 

$13,500,000

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 June 2025 - 02:32 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Situated on a ±15,214 corner lot in the heart of downtown Victoria, 1222 & 1280 Douglas Street offers a rare opportunity to acquire a prominently located building with strong in-place income and value-add potential. The existing national tenants provide stable cash flow from the ground floor, while the vacant second level presents purchasers with the opportunity to immediately lease, reposition, demise, or occupy the ±15,000 square feet on the second floor. It's central location offers immediate access to transit, amenities, and a high volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic year-round. 5.6% cap rate based on in-place income with upside potential.

 

 

$7,500,000

 

https://www.realtor....ctoria-downtown

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 June 2025 - 02:31 PM.

[Lashlarue]

Hudson's Bay receives approval for sale of three leases to Island mall owner Ruby Liu

Roby Liu has said she plans to use the leases to open a new department store she will name after herself and fill with dining, entertainment and children’s play spaces

https://www.theglobe..._medium=twitter

She reminds me so much of Donald Trump, it’s uncanny. Naming the place after herself, saying all the landlords want to work with her when they are fighting her in court, odd little untruths like saying she loves Toronto so much that she’s going to move there. Even her fashion sense.

[Victoria Watcher]

B.C.-based clothing brand DUER opens its first standalone store in Victoria on Friday (June 27), marking a continued expansion of its retail footprint across North America.

The 2,500-square-foot space in downtown brings DUER’s signature blend of style, comfort, and performance to a city known for its balance of urban energy and outdoor lifestyle.

“Victoria strikes a great balance between city life and the outdoors. People here care about clothing that looks good and performs, whether that’s downtown or on the trails, and that’s exactly what I had in mind when I started the brand,” founder Gary Lenett said in a news release. “It’s been one of our strongest communities since day one and being just a short trip from our home in Vancouver, opening here feels especially meaningful.”


https://www.vicnews....utdoors-8090533


584 Johnson Street. Former Lululemon space.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 June 2025 - 10:32 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Lululemon theft ring revealed: Organized crew suspected behind wave of shoplifted gear

Documents claim accused in fencing ring still 'placing orders' with shoplifter despite charges


https://www.cbc.ca/n...nized-1.7564525

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 June 2025 - 10:45 AM.