Ruby Liu wants to get young people back in malls — and hopes to use Hudson's Bay sites to do it

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu has large plans arsenic she moves to instrumentality implicit up to 28 erstwhile Hudson's Bay retail locations crossed Canada, pledging to stock the pastry with skeptical landlords and aiming to bring youngsters backmost to stores.

Liu has emerged arsenic the starring candidate to measurement into the abstraction vacated by Hudson's Bay, which went bust aft seeking creditor extortion successful March. The institution agreed to merchantability her up to 28 leases arsenic portion of the winding-down process.

She has already taken implicit 3 leases, having paid astir $6 cardinal for the leases astatine malls she owns. The remaining 25 leases are successful Alberta, B.C. and Ontario properties she doesn't own. The Bay has yet to question tribunal support 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 successful China's retail world.

In a wide-ranging interrogation with Gloria Macarenko, impermanent big of CBC's The Early Edition, Liu revealed her plans for the section stores and her thoughts connected the aboriginal of retail.

Linda Qin, who is CEO of Liu's Central Walk company, translated for Liu, who spoke Mandarin during the interrogation that airs connected Monday. It has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

Ruby, you cognize astir the agelong past of these section stores here in Canada, but these locations person ample footprints. What is your vision?

Right now, we are encountering an e-commerce era, so the net plays a precise cardinal and important relation successful our regular life.

Therefore, we privation to resistance young radical from the net into reality, and from online to offline. We'll enactment getting the young generation [Gen Z] back into buying malls and we'll innovate to pull them.

I wrote a missive to the premier curate a fewer days ago, requesting a accidental to conscionable with [him] successful person, to speech astir however to amended the competitiveness for the state and however to supply benefits. 

WATCH | Who is Ruby Liu? 

What precisely volition beryllium different? What volition beryllium caller and antithetic successful these caller places?

The immersive buying acquisition is precise important. Look astatine the Asian countries similar Japan, similar Thailand. They person each events — not lone inside, [but] outside of the buying malls.

They're bully astatine organizing each kinds of events to pull visitors and shoppers, truthful we should larn from it.

Shopping centres ... should big much small- to mid-scale activities and events. They should beryllium playing a much important relation successful hosting assemblage events and activities.

I recognize that you are already successful the process of hiring for these stores and moving with suppliers. What's your timeline ... astatine these 3 B.C. malls?

Our people and mandate is to prosecute 70 per cent of the erstwhile [Hudson's Bay] managers and employees. 

I person a three-tier program for the store openings. 

WATCH | What went incorrect for Hudson's Bay: 

For the archetypal tier, the mean stores, I'm readying to unfastened them successful 3 months.

For the [second tier] stores, we volition bash much renovation and supply a much immersive buying acquisition to shoppers ... it volition beryllium astir six to 8 months earlier they open.

For the 3rd tier ...  we person much innovative ideas, precocious technology, possibly immoderate [virtual reality] and immoderate breathtaking caller buying elements coming into the stores.

And we'll person good dining, we'll person entertainment, we'll person a kids' play area. However, everything volition beryllium decided nether the information of getting the landlords' support and support.

What makes you assured that your attack volition beryllium successful?

If I request to walk fractional cardinal connected something — whether it's connected projects oregon renovations oregon anything — I recognize that for different large companies the outgo volition beryllium 3 times more.

So from the cost-effectiveness constituent of view, I'm precise confident.

Canada, close now, needs the tone of moving hard, cutting budgets and [saving] costs.

I'm going to pb a radical of younger generations and immigrants to nutrient and plan premium, joyful section stores.

There has been immoderate pushback from a batch of the landlords that you're negotiating with implicit this. They're saying they haven't seen a coagulated retail program and that there's really a deficiency of  retail experience. What bash you accidental to them?

At this point, I cannot disclose arsenic overmuch arsenic ... they expected.

But for adjacent steps, we volition [have] negotiations and discussions with landlords.

With their enactment and approval, we volition person better, detailed, concern plans.

When the barroom is bigger, we're going to chopped half, and we're going to stock it with our landlords.