Ruby Liu wants to get young people back in malls — and hopes to use Hudson's Bay sites to do it
B.C. mall owner seeks up to 28 former Hudson's Bay leases to make way for new department stores
B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu has big plans as she moves to take over up to 28 former Hudson's Bay retail locations across Canada, pledging to share the pie with skeptical landlords and aiming to bring youngsters back to stores.
Liu has emerged as the leading candidate to step into the space vacated by Hudson's Bay, which went bust after seeking creditor protection in March. The company agreed to sell her up to 28 leases as part of the winding-down process.
She has already taken over three leases, having paid around $6 million for the leases at malls she owns. The remaining 25 leases are in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario properties she doesn't own. The Bay has yet to seek court approval for the arrangement, but landlords for the spaces are overwhelmingly opposed to her moving in.
The landlords told judges they've not had productive discussions with the billionaire, who made her fortune over decades in China's retail world.
In a wide-ranging interview with Gloria Macarenko, guest host of CBC's The Early Edition, Liu revealed her plans for the department stores and her thoughts on the future of retail.
Linda Qin, who is CEO of Liu's Central Walk company, translated for Liu, who spoke Mandarin during the interview that airs on Monday. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Ruby, you know about the long history of these department stores here in Canada, but these locations have large footprints. What is your vision?
Right now, we are encountering an e-commerce era, so the internet plays a very key and important role in our daily life.
Therefore, we want to drag young people from the internet into reality, and from online to offline. We'll support getting the young generation [Gen Z] back into shopping malls and we'll innovate to attract them.
I wrote a letter to the prime minister a few days ago, requesting a chance to meet with [him] in person, to talk about how to improve the competitiveness for the country and how to provide benefits.
What exactly will be different? What will be new and different in these new places?
The immersive shopping experience is very important. Look at the Asian countries like Japan, like Thailand. They have all events — not only inside, [but] outside of the shopping malls.
They're good at organizing all kinds of events to attract visitors and shoppers, so we should learn from it.
Shopping centres ... should host more small- to mid-scale activities and events. They should be playing a more important role in hosting community events and activities.
I understand that you are already in the process of hiring for these stores and working with suppliers. What's your timeline ... at these three B.C. malls?
Our target and mandate is to hire 70 per cent of the former [Hudson's Bay] managers and employees.
I have a three-tier plan for the store openings.
For the first tier, the normal stores, I'm planning to open them in three months.
For the [second tier] stores, we will do more renovation and provide a more immersive shopping experience to shoppers ... it will be about six to eight months before they open.
For the third tier ... we have more innovative ideas, high technology, maybe some [virtual reality] and some exciting new shopping elements coming into the stores.
And we'll have fine dining, we'll have entertainment, we'll have a kids' play area. However, everything will be decided under the condition of getting the landlords' approval and support.
What makes you confident that your approach will be successful?
If I need to spend half million on something — whether it's on projects or renovations or anything — I understand that for other big companies the cost will be three times more.
So from the cost-effectiveness point of view, I'm very confident.
Canada, right now, needs the spirit of working hard, cutting budgets and [saving] costs.
I'm going to lead a group of younger generations and immigrants to produce and plan premium, joyful department stores.
There has been some pushback from a lot of the landlords that you're negotiating with over this. They're saying they haven't seen a solid retail plan and that there's actually a lack of retail experience. What do you say to them?
At this point, I cannot disclose as much as ... they expected.
But for next steps, we will [have] negotiations and discussions with landlords.
With their support and approval, we will have better, detailed, business plans.
When the cake is bigger, we're going to cut half, and we're going to share it with our landlords.
With files from Gloria Macarenko and The Early Edition