Hudson’s Bay might stay in the Netherlands despite heavy losses

After rumors surfaced last month that Hudson's Bay is planning to withdraw from the Netherlands, the Canadian department store chain now stressed that no decision has been made yet. A spokesperson for the company did say that the Dutch branch is underperforming and that the strategy is being re-examined, Financieele Dagblad reports.

At the end of August, trade union FVN and FD reported that Hudson's Bay was closing all its branches in the Netherlands, resulting in some 1,400 job losses. But the company will not confirm this, referring to statements made in June. Then the company said that the Dutch branch is not performing as well as expected, and that some stores may have to close. "We don't have any updates on that yet", the spokesperson said to FD.

Hudson's Bay published its second quarter results on Thursday, showing that the company lost around 69 million Canadian dollars, around 47 million euros, in Europe in the second quarter. The company did not release figures for the Netherlands' branches separately.

The largest cost item for Hudson's Bay in the Netherlands is rent, with long-term lease agreements running as long as 10 years. Hudson's Bay pays a total annual rent of around 75 million euros in the Netherlands, according to NU.nl.

The first Dutch Hudson's Bay store opened with great fanfare in Amsterdam in 2017. The department store chain has been struggling with disappointing results in the Netherlands from the start. Earlier this year there were rumors that the parent company was considering having the Dutch stores declared bankrupt.