Hudson's Bay relaunched the Zellers discount brand in 2023.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Court documents filed on Monday have provided more detail on Canadian Tire Corp.’s CTC-A-T $30-million deal to acquire the intellectual property of Hudson’s Bay Co., including a trove of brand names, logos and slogans, as well as private labels such as Distinctly Home and Hudson North. But the deal does not include the Zellers discount brand that Hudson’s Bay relaunched in 2023.
Canada’s oldest retailer will be back in court on Tuesday, June 3, to seek approval for the deal, which was reached on May 15 after Hudson’s Bay failed to find a buyer or investor that would continue operating the retail chain in some form as a going concern.
The documents filed in court on Monday reveal that Canadian Tire’s acquisition covers a vast collection of trademarks.
Those include the Hudson’s Bay name, logos for HBC and The Bay that span decades of use, as well as the company crest featuring two stags and a shield. The brand for defunct home goods store chain Home Outfitters is included as well.
The list of acquired marks also includes slogans such as “The Official Store of Christmas,” “More than you came for,” and “It’s hard not to think of The Bay,” and the rights to the Bay Days name, widely recognized for the retailer’s seasonal sales. Less well-known trademarks are on the list, too, such as “Canada’s cutest baby” and “The ultimate you.”
Pending court approval, Canadian Tire will acquire private labels previously sold by Hudson’s Bay such as Nordic Fleece, Black Brown 1826, Distinctly Home, Hudson North and Beaumark Appliances.
Inside the unlikely reinvention of the Canadian department store
And the deal covers the rights to a significant collection of historic designs for Hudson‘s Bay’s point blankets, which the company used in the fur trade in the 18th century and which its stores have continued to sell. The trademarks cover a number of variations on the blankets, including a historic black-band design, stripe designs and point designs.
Another historic element of the deal is the trademark for the company’s 1670 Royal Charter. The charter itself is part of an auction of the Hudson’s Bay art and artifacts collection, which is being held separately. The process for that auction is still in development.
Canadian Tire is buying a number of domain names for websites related to The Bay, as well, along with the names of its social media accounts.
The fall of Hudson’s Bay: How Richard Baker presided over the failure of a retail icon
The sales process for the company’s assets attracted 17 bids, 13 of them for the company’s intellectual property. The Hudson’s Bay board of directors and its financial adviser, Reflect Advisers LLC, considered various factors including the price offered and the net value of each deal, along with the liabilities the bidders were willing to assume. They also considered whether bids included an irrevocable financing commitment, the factors affecting the speed and likelihood of the deal closing, and other terms.
“In addition, the Canadian Tire bid will allow for the company’s iconic marks and intellectual property to be utilized by another of Canada’s iconic retailers ensuring that an important part of the Company’s legacy will continue into the future,” Hudson’s Bay chief operating officer and chief financial officer Michael Culhane wrote in an affidavit filed with the court on Monday.
Pending court approval, the company expects the deal to close by mid-July.