Future of HBC uncertain

The future of NRDC’s recent acquisitions remain uncertain as a deepening recession has sent Richard Baker’s retail purchases in 2006 through 2008  into dark waters.

According to the Wall Street Journal*, a few of Baker’s purchases have already flunked out – namely Linen n’ Things, FortunOff and the once promising Peter Som. The department stores Lord & Taylor and The Bay were said to endure a makeover in better positioning themselves in the retail market. In the US, Lord & Taylor was said to stand between Macy’s and Nordstrom. In Canada, the U.S. department store would position itself between The Bay and Holt Renfrew. Today, it would seem this projection is bleak.

The Bay, already suffering from previous mismanagement, seem to have encountered yet another setback in making a significant return to the Canadian retail market. If the department store is heading for a resale, unless by some miracle in this global recession, I fear that this branded department store will disappear off of customer’s radars, if not done so already.

*If you’re not  subscribed to WSJ, there is a technical loophole in which you can view the article if you search the following keywords in Google – “nrdc, baker, wsj”. Click on the “cache” link and you should be able to see it. Ahh technology.