B.C. mall owner says she wanted to run stores more than she wanted Bay trademarks

Ruby Liu, chairwoman of Central Walk, poses in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Ruby Liu *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Ruby Liu may have lost out on owning Hudson’s Bay’s name and all its trademarks, but she’s not bitter because she’s got designs on her own retail empire.

The B.C. real estate maven is seeking court approval for her $6 million purchase of three leases for former Bay locations in malls she owns in the province.

“I wanted to buy the trademarks, but I also like operating actual retail stores more than having the trademarks,” she told The Canadian Press in an interview in Mandarin. “Owning the Bay’s trademark for me is just like being a manufacturer.”

Liu’s remarks come after a court approved the sale of the Bay name and its trademarks to Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. for $30 million at the start of the month.

The decision gave the retailer, which also owns SportChek, Party City, Mark’s and Pro Hockey Life, a vast trove of intellectual property belonging to Canada’s oldest company. It includes rights to the Distinctly Home brand, its Hudson North apparel line and trademarks like “Bay Days” and the Zellers catchphrase “the lowest price is the law.”

Liu, a Chinese entrepreneur who owns three B.C. malls, had made an offer for the trademarks in hopes of using them to revive the Bay.

She faced competition from a dozen other people or companies bidding on the Bay’s intellectual property, court documents have said. Other than Canadian Tire and Liu, only Toronto investment manager Urbana Corp. has publicly disclosed it was a bidder.

“When I competed with Canadian Tire, I had to pay more than $30 million and Canadian Tire is very rich,” Liu said of the bidding process, where she said she kept having to increase her offer price.

Eventually, she realized she might have to spend $50 million to win the trademarks, so, she said, “I gave up the bidding.”

Hudson’s Bay lawyers have said the retailer picked Canadian Tire because its bid was “the highest and best offer resulting from a competitive process.”

Financial advisers who helped on that deal said some of the offers received were indistinguishable, so they sought and obtained modifications to improve them where possible.

Liu had better luck when she went up against 11 other parties vying for 39 leases belonging to the Bay and its sister Saks banners. The Bay chose her proposal to take over up to 28 in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.

Anyone who made an offer for leases had to deposit 10 per cent of their estimated purchase price. Court documents show Liu made a deposit of $9.4 million on top of the $6 million for the three leases in her own malls, which would equate to a purchase price of $100 million.

The transaction still needs court and landlord approval to move forward.

Liu met with landlords in early June. Some have sent letters to Hudson’s Bay seeking more information on her plans and outlining “concerns,” court documents show. The records don’t specify what the concerns are but say the Bay is “hopeful that all matters can be resolved consensually.”

In the meantime, it will ask a court on Monday to allow Liu to buy three leases at B.C. malls her Central Walk company owns — Tsawwassen Mills, Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Centre.

Her plan is to use the spaces and any others she is able to secure to develop a modernized department store she’ll name Ruby Liu and market with a scarlet jewel as its logo.

Liu said it will sell products like clothing, jewelry and makeup but also have elements for entertainment, kids, seniors, fitness and cosplay — the practice of dressing up as fictional characters.

The idea is not to “just stick to the old ways.”

“I want to innovate,” she said. “I want to combine the elements of eating, drinking, and having fun with my retail business.”

It’s unclear whether the leases she wants to take over allow for such activities or whether landlords would even permit them.

If they agree to her plan, she’ll first have to revamp the sites she is taking over. Many have broken escalators and are in need of repairs to indoor infrastructure as well as roofs and the outdoor facades.

Liu estimates she will spend $30 million to get the spaces at the Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Center in tip-top shape, but said it’s a necessary expense to executive on her vision.

“I want to change,” she said. “I don’t want my three stores to repeat what the Bay was doing.”

This report by Tara Deschamps and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press, was first published June 18, 2025.