this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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28
Wenghong Liu announces plans to buy Hudson's Bay (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Chinese billionaire living in B.C. has announced on social media her plans to buy the chain. She says she wants to restore it to its former glory.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"Knowing that The Bay, this national brand that carries Canada's history, will collapse, I can't stand by and watch, you must do your best to do something, to save it, to let the Canadian spirit continue," Liu said in Mandarin. "Let the young generation in Canada fall in love with The Bay again."

Canada has seen a rise in national pride and cohesion since Trump started attacking us. My dad is a veteran and he said it was hurtful to see young Canadians hating the country for its past.

HBC is a huge part of the dark side of Canadian history. It's also a for-profit entity that failed to adapt to a changing market.

Some things are okay being history. If I had to trade the existence of HBC for my dad and other vets feeling a little better about the country they sacrificed so much for I'm glad to make it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My dad is a veteran and he said it was hurtful to see young Canadians hating the country for its past.

This feels like it's downplaying the horrors in our history.

I don't think there's many "young Canadians hating the country for its past." I do think younger people feel shame for some of our collective past actions and guilty for how they may benefit from those actions. Personally, think reconciliation is important, and that issues like residential schools are not done and gone because they're in the past, they continue to affect people in the present, and potentially for generations to come.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I was just sharing how I interpreted his feelings and what he said. It wasn't meant to be a nuanced retrospective of Canadian colonialism

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Nothing more Canadian than a foreign national buying up Canadian brands and pretending they are Canadian.

Bonus points for trying to use Canadian pride in a time of turmoil to secure the purchase.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'll take Chinese over American, which is what the Bay currently is

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'll take Canadian or no store thanks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

no store

But then how am I supposed to get into the mall?

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago

By not supporting dictatorships.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Always the most parking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This isn't something new for HBC. From what I can see, they've has been foreign owned since at least 2006 and have claimed Canadianism hard for the last couple decades.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Anyone taking bets on how long it will take for it to get enshittified faster than Tim Hortons?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How can you enshittify the Bay? I guess closing them will technically enshittify most malls as it'll remove at least one entrance/exit to the parking lot.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Have you set foot in one in the last two decades? They did enshittify it already, not only could you not find anyone to answer any of your questions about the merchandise, you could barely find someone to staff the register without crossing the entire floor because HR was running the staff levels at 50% capacity or less of what was seen in the 90's.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I guess I didn't make my point clear enough. At this point it's about as neutral as an empty space, the only way to make it worse is for it to make the mall worse, like having an entrance closed (or if we want to get silly, like having the employees squirt you with water guns while you're walking past to get to the food court).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I mean, the answer for that would be a negative number. There's a reason why it went under.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago

That feels like a suckers bet. haha

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

From what I read, she moved to Canada more than 10 years ago.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Chinese billionaire Weihong Liu shared videos online announcing her plans

I guess you didn't read the part immediately following the headline that doesn't include "Permanent Resident" "Chinese-Canadian Dual citizen" or "Canadian Citizen".

A Chinese billionaire in British Columbia has taken to social media to announce her plans to buy dozens of Hudson's Bay locations after she saw "Canadians feeling sad" over the collapse of the retail giant.

Probably means you didn't read the first paragraph where she immediately separates herself from Canadians, and thus her time living here meaningless in the conversation, because she still clearly sees herself as "Not a Canadian".

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Actually, I read several more articles about her before I posted that, because I wanted to find out more. She moved to Canada in 2014, she is apparently a PR, and she seems to love Canada. Maybe you should check your xenophobia and read more before you post something.

(https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-billionaire-owner-of-three-b-c-malls-bares-soul-on-china-scandals-and-her-horrific-upbringing)

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Maybe you should check your xenophobia and read more before you post something.

The crutch of the person without an argument and an opinion article presented as fact. If she truly wanted to be Canadian she can easily be a citizen. Especially as a Billionaire business owner.

Maybe you should stop acting like the opinion is xenophobic when I will say the same thing about any rich foreign cunt buying up Canadian business' while pretending to be "Canadian" and never becoming a citizen.

Take care.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This isn't a debate, and you're clearly here just to be a pain in the ass. Why don't you find something better to do with your time?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You know, people who aren't very bright can usually easily make up for that by just being diligent, such as by reading a bit more before posting. People who aren't very bright and who are committed to ignorance because it confirms their ideological biases have a much harder time figuring things out. I see that's where you're at, so you're not worth interacting with further. Hopefully you overcome that hurdle some day.

Good day.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think there’s a lot of room in the market right now to leverage the HBC name and locations to implement a Costco-like retail experience but with a Canadian focus.

Best of luck to this endeavour

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's actually a good idea. If the "Buy Canadian" thing hangs on, it would have a decent chance of succeeding.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Even if the absence of a strong “buy Canadian” mindset I think people would reward an alternative to the retail landscape of today.

People over-focus on Costco’s pricing and under-focus on how they provide a good customer experience. They don’t play the retail games of boosting prices and then cutting them for a “sale”. They promote generic otc medication instead of only pushing expensive brands. They have good quality products, not cheap crap that looks good but doesn’t or doesn’t last.

So yeah it could be a great outlet for quality Canadian products but I also still want quality imports from our allies in Europe and Mexico and Asia and beyond. HBC could be that, if I had a billion dollars that’s what I would do.