Canada Losing A Piece of Its Past?

[me]

just read at WashingtonPost.com that an American has bought Hudson's Bay Co., a 336 year old enterprise.

it surprises me that no Canadian has jumped at chance to own a part of Canada's history.

[Jules80]

wow that is soooooooooo depressing! i remember hearing about that possibility awhile ago! i think it rates as one of the oldest department stores in the world it existed before our country did!

jules

[Eagle]

I agree, it's depressing to see such venerable Canadian institutions being sold off! Several months ago, there was a huge public outcry when Kinder-Morgan purchased Terasen Gas, however the sale was allowed to proceed anyway.

David, possibly there's no Canadian with the financial means for a purchase of this size?

We have a Bay store here, so it will be interesting to see if there are any changes in the way they do business? They also own Zeller's, so we might see those sold off at some point?

Cheers!!!

[Patrick]

It's also possible that no Canadian saw it as wise purchase they wanted to make. I believe the fellow who is involved in the takeover already owned a large portion of HBC? And they're in quite a bit of debt already, so I suppose the bottom line is that business is business. Sticking your neck out for a Canadian company may be the noble thing, but probably not the smart thing in this case.

[jennifer]

Ok Wait!
I AM THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO CRY!
I WORK FOR THE BAY!

He owned 19% of shares! It is not done yet, they are moving for an official purchase offer but HBC has suggested shareholders accept. THey are getting quite good money out of it.

The fact that he is american pisses me off, but at least he has no stores so will not be annexing. So far he has said he wants to keep the heritage. Ok, who knows, but still!


AHHHHHHHHHH as long as I keep my job!

[dougj]

There hasn't been a Bay store here in years and Zeller's is the worst store I've ever set foot in. Won't be too long before they close them all here as well.

Tim Horton's is owned by an american too.

[Jules80]

Tim Hortons is a publicly traded company.

[Eagle]

Tim Horton's is currently owned by Wendys, however they are in the process of separating the two businesses. I have to wonder if TH is going to be sold also?

[xandra]

I wish I could own all the Tim Hortons...
I've already had 2 large double doubles so far today...
mmmm now I want another one

[Jules80]

there are sadly no timmy's in my vicinity. i have to take 2 buses for like 45 min to find one. damn quebec city!

[Patrick]

Jules, really? There's about 5 within 2km of my house... it's crazy.

[Kim]

Jules, that is just WRONG that there isn't a Timmy's closer to you. Very wrong.

[jennifer]

Lol
Tim Horton's isn't as big in Québec, although there are many, it seems Québec (City) forgot about them:)

Know what? Now they annoucned that the sell will increase HBC's debt by a lot. Which gets me thinking Zellers will absolutely be sold off, at least for real estate, Ok i'm safe, but still, who knows what this wakjob will do to this huge company! I mean come on, the first employees were trappers, who the heck can you sell a company like that

[Jules80]

no argument, definately very wrong! there are two within walking distance of my parents house, and my cottage... but not my flat probably safer for my bank acount. there's one on mcgill campus which was deadly during my undergrad.