Empower Your Business to Close Sales in Canada Efficiently with airSlate SignNow

How to create outlook signature

less than a decade after arriving in Canada Nordstrom is leaving and liquidation sales at their department stores are underway in Ontario a court gave the U.S retailers Canadian Branch permission to start selling off its merchandise the cbc's Megan Fitzpatrick has the latest from near a Nordstrom store in downtown Toronto out here this morning arthy before the doors opened some eager Shoppers looking for those deals and what they found inside the store was about five percent off as sort of the Baseline sale that's being offered in the stores right now some outerwares in the neighborhood of about 20 percent no signs up yet alerting Shoppers of what the deals are so they were having to uh ask the sales associates what they could what they could get on sale because this liquidation sale was just approved by that court yesterday giving the green light for this to go ahead this whole process of Nordstrom leaving Canada is being overseen by the courts because they're using What's called the company's creditors Arrangement act which is a way for companies to restructure and wind down their businesses so it was a bit of a last minute scramble this morning in terms of uh these sales starting they will be underway for a couple of weeks Nordstrom expected to shut down their stores by late June six stores across Canada as well as seven Nordstrom Rack stores which as you mentioned have been open since 2014 and they just weren't doing well enough to stay open with the the company deciding to pull the plug and that unfortunately is going to mean in the neighborhood of 2500 employees losing their jobs now in terms of whether Shoppers are finding their deals here our theater did speak to a couple who are disappointed that it was only five percent to start and they were kind of struggling with oh do I go ahead and buy what I want at only five percent or do I wait to see if the discounts get any deeper but then the things they want might be gone I did speak to one Shopper who bought some sunglasses for five percent off a luxury brand that he says never goes on sale so he was happy to get his hands on those so of course the deals are one part of this but really we're also talking about some job losses that you discussed there what more do we know about that yeah I just confirmed with Nordstrom this morning where things were at on that um and they do say that employees are being kept in the loop about what's going on and given all the latest information and in terms of developments and they also say they'll continue to work as scheduled during the wind down period uh employees at the stores they're generally going to get at least eight weeks written notice advising of their final day of employment once that final day is determined and Nordstrom says they've also set up an employee trust arthy that will ensure that they continue to get their salaries and benefits during that notice period so that's what we know sort of on that part of the process but again yeah a lot of employees across the country will be losing their jobs um in in the coming weeks as Nordstrom pulls out of Canada BBC's Megan Fitzpatrick in Toronto now we do want to stay on the story for that I want to bring in Doug Stevens in Ancaster Ontario he's the founder and CEO of retail profit a retail industry consultancy thank thank you for making time for us today my pleasure RT okay so liquidation as we heard starts today for Nordstrom stores across the country Nordstrom is closing all 13 of their stores in Canada why did the retail or face such trouble with profitability and eventually its demise in this country well I think it was really a just a a remarkable set of circumstances I mean we can't forget first of all what brought Nordstrom to Canada in the first place in the aftermath of the financial crisis in the U.S and the slow recovery of the economy in the U.S Canada started to look like a good bet and so in 2014 Nordstrom came but it takes years to establish a brand in a new market in a new country with new consumers new sensibilities new preferences in terms of products it takes time to figure that out and then of course uh the obvious we went through a pandemic that must have been excruciating for Nordstrom considering that they didn't really have a fully fledged online presence or or game at that point so when you put that all together and then you look at their situation now staring down the barrel of what could be a potential recession I think they just made the probably prudent decision to pull up stakes and invest in their core business in the U.S we know also of course today that those liquidation sales are starting and lots of customers are rushing to find a bargain but we heard some are disappointed with the discounts not being deep enough so what can we actually expect when it comes to that when you hear liquidation sale you think prices are really going to be slashed not five percent yeah you you do and and it is a common misconception around these kinds of liquidations and and as was mentioned earlier this is a a court uh uh administered uh bankruptcy it's a it's a court administered liquidation of inventory there is a monitor that is appointed to oversee the process and then two companies that are actually managing the liquidation but the obligation of the Monitor and the Liquidators is not to sell whatever they can for whatever they can get their obligation is to actually recoup as much as is feasible they have to make best efforts to recoup as much money as possible because of course these proceeds are what will be funding both secured and unsecured creditors going forward so uh you know I I actually recall during the target exit from Canada during that liquidation consumers were actually going into store and they were peeling up price tags and finding that the Liquidators price was actually above the regular price of the merchandise and that's the Liquidators discretion to do so and there's a tip for those bargain hunters there and of course you you mentioned targets exit from the Canadian market and we've seen numerous American retail closers in the country such as Target Bed Bath and Beyond and now Nordstrom so why do these department stores seem to fail in Canada but survive in the U.S yeah it's it's a good question and it's a fair question and certainly there's been a narrative you know developing that perhaps you know there's there's just some sort of there's something wrong with Canada or with Canadian consumers um but I think it's very difficult to make comparisons between the target debacle and certainly it was a debacle really from the time they entered the country just a series of operational missteps PR blunders and Canada was targets to lose and lose it they did Nordstrom was a different situation Nordstrom's a very good company I think they came into the country putting their best foot forward but again I just don't think they have the time to establish themselves before the pandemic hit and then you know what the Fallout was obvious um so I I don't look at this as a Canada problem and I think we only have to look at Brands like Walmart Home Depot Costco to make a very solid case for the idea that yeah Canada is a great country to operate in and in fact you can dominate in this country if you do it right Doug thank you for your time today that is Doug Stevens in Ancaster Ontario he's the founder and CEO of retail profit a retail industry consultancy