HBC closing its 15 Hudson's Bay stores in the Netherlands

Flagship Hudson Bay Company store in Toronto seen on Jan. 27, 2014. (Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TORONTO -- Hudson's Bay Co. is closing its 15 Hudson's Bay stores in the Netherlands, as well as its e-commerce site and headquarters in the country by the end of the year.

The company says it has come to an agreement with local unions to offer solutions for employees impacted by the closure.

The union says there are 1,424 employees, although it's not clear how many are full-time and how many are part-time.

HBC opened its first Hudson's Bay store in the Netherlands in 2017 as part of its growth strategy in Europe, but has since shifted to focus fully on North America.

In June, the company announced a deal to sell its remaining stake in its German real estate joint venture and sell its related retail joint venture to its partner, Signa.

As part of the agreement, HBC assumed ownership of the Dutch retail business. HBC said at the time it had hired a financial adviser to review its options for the operations, which had not performed to expectations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2019