TORONTO – As Hudson’s Bay stores across Canada liquidate their inventory to pay off debt, customers currently lost inside these labyrinthian stores are being warned they must find their way out before the locations close for good.
“There are only a few weeks left for Canadians to capitalize on our liquidation sale, and for those who have been lost inside our locations that are closing, you will need to make like our merchandise and get the heck out,” said Hudson’s Bay CEO, Richard Baker, as he stood in front of an empty display case.
Retail experts have been calling for the Hudson’s Bay Company to liquidate its stores for years, as their confusing layouts and overstocked floors has made it impossible for so many shoppers to identify where the closest exits are – especially given that many locations are several stories high.
For customers like Martha Chin, an 88-year-old woman who has been trying to find her way out of an Oakville location’s Housewares Department for three days, liquidating stores is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.
“Sure, we might be able to see the exits better, but can you help me find an escalator that’s working? The one going down to the ground level isn’t running. Maybe someone unplugged it, or they sold the gears off for parts?” Chin added, hoping to stumble upon one of those weird Bay cafe’s to find sustenance. “Either way, I hope my grandson likes this quarter-zip top I got for him, if I can ever get it to him…”
Others lost in various Bay stores shared different concerns, including how “there aren’t enough employees on the floor to show folks where the exits are”, or “for the few employees you do get a glimpse of, they seem rushed and like they don’t have any time to help people get out.”
“Look, I know they’re busy helping people find jeans,” said Tom Ellroy, a customer who’s been lost in a Red Deer Bay location for eleven days, “but I could really use a hand finding the parking lot, because I don’t want to end up like those poor souls who were stuck in Sears when it closed down.”
Similar concerns have led other lost shoppers to prepare for life “Post Bay” – by stocking up on items such as towels, housecoats, Lindor chocolate, lip stick, perfume, slippers, underwear and other essentials needed to survive.
35-year-old Chuck Knowles has been preparing for the possibility that he might never leave, ever since he got lost in 2020.
“I’m all stocked up on the essentials, by that I mean spaghetti and B-B-Q sauce,” said Chuck, as he showed off his makeshift pantry, hidden under an overturned canoe. He also added that he’s been drinking perfume to help him survive, which while it tastes bad at first, Chuck assured us “you get used to it after a while.”
Asked if he thinks he’ll ever leave, Chuck said he might have started out lost, but he’s truly found home on the 5th floor of The Bay.
“Now and then, I think about my wife and four kids from my before-Bay life… but then I move on… mainly because I could never find the emergency exit.”
Chuck then introduced his second wife, Sharon. Visibly pregnant, she explained how they’re expecting their third child in June, adding, “I sure hope there’s still some baby clothes in stock.”
CEO Baker concluded by noting how, in the long and storied history of the Hudson’s Bay Company, having poorly-laid-out stores was, “definitely the worst thing we as a company have ever done.”
