TORONTO — The Hudson's Bay trademarks Canadian Tire hopes to acquire span well beyond the retailer's name, coat of arms and iconic stripes, new court documents show.
If the companies get court approval for the $30 million deal they recently brokered, filings made late Monday show Canadian Tire will own some of the country's oldest logos, its most memorable catchphrases and nods to parts of the Bay business that are now long gone.
Included in the 350-page trove of trademarks are rights to the retailer's original name: the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay.
When it operated under that name, it was given a coat of arms made up of four beavers, two elks and a fox along with the motto "pro pelle cutem," a Latin phrase meaning roughly, "a pelt for a skin."
As part of the proposed sale, Canadian Tire will get the rights to the arms along with some more modern vestiges of the 355-year-old brand.
For example, the trove includes the rights to "Bay Days" — the name of the retailer's most famous sales period — along with trademarks for its household goods brands Distinctly Home and its apparel brand Hudson North.
Also in the mix are trademarks for now defunct household goods retailer Home Outfitters, the Bay's famed luxury business The Room, its Toronto event facility Arcadian Court and private labels Nordic Fleece, Beaumark Appliances and Black Brown 1826.
Then, there are the taglines.
Canadian Tire will own the Zellers "Lowest price is the law" slogan, as well as "Shopping is good," "More than you came for," "Everything under the sun" and "Bring it home."
There are also many trademarks like "Official store of Christmas," "Christmas street" and "the official Christmas book of gift ideas," which were likely used to market its holiday window displays and catalogues.
Hearkening back to its days running department store photo studios are rights to phrases like "Canada's cutest baby," "the official photographer of growing up" and "the official photographer of winning smiles."
Rounding out the group are trademarks like "1st Auto," "Bay Optical," "Bay Flowers," and "Pharmamart," which alludes to other lines of business that the Bay has largely decamped.
In addition to trademarks, the assets include web domains and social media user accounts. Most of the website addresses relate to the Bay and parts of its business, but some are broader such as everyday.ca, mom.ca and stuff4school.com.
There are also domains linked to Kleinfeld, the upscale wedding gown salon it ran at some stores, as well as Galeria Kaufhof, the German department store the Bay once owned.
Another standout is redmittens.ca, presumably a reference to the winter gear that built on the popularity of the Bay's Vancouver 2010 Olympic mittens.
Finally, it also owns domains like "thebay.sucks" and "hbc.sucks" which may have been measures the company took to protect its brand.
Canadian Tire has not said what it will do with the trademarks and domains it would acquire in the deal meant to close by July 15, but the retailer owns 1,700 stores across its banners, which include SportChek, Party City, Mark's and Pro Hockey Life as well as its original brand.
To win the trademarks, Canadian Tire beat out 16 other people or companies that made offers, including 13 that wanted the Bay's intellectual property, the court documents say.
Some bids didn't meet the Bay's requirements. Others were "indistinguishable," causing the company running the sales process to seek and obtain modifications "to improve them where possible."
After reviewing the amount being offered, "the speed, value and certainty of the transaction," what would be included or omitted from a deal and the timing of the offer, Hudson's Bay and its advisers determined Canadian Tire had the most favourable bid.
"In addition, the Canadian Tire Bid will allow for the Company’s iconic marks and intellectual property to be utilized by another of Canada’s iconic retailers ensuring that an important part of the Company’s legacy will continue into the future," said an affidavit from the Bay's new chief financial officer Michael Culhane.
As part of the sale, court documents say Canadian Tire will assume three contracts the Bay had. Two are not described in filings but the third relates to Pendleton Woolen Mills, an Oregon-based blanket and clothing maker.
A 2009 settlement and trademark licensing agreement entered in the court documents showed the two companies had a dispute over the use of some multistripe and “point” motifs. In the settlement, Hudson’s Bay granted Pendleton a “perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide non-exclusive trademark license.”
The portion of the documents the Pendleton agreement cropped up in are dedicated to outlining how the sale to Canadian Tire will work, ahead of a June 3 court date seeking its approval.
Hudson's Bay is also expected to ask that a document describing why it chose Canadian Tire be sealed because it contains commercially sensitive information.
The hearing is scheduled two days after all 80 Bay stores and 13 under the Saks banners are set to close for good, leaving more than 8,300 workers unemployed.
The company is still working out who to sell its art, artifacts and some leases to.
Twelve offers have been received for 39 leases and the Bay has reached a deal with B.C. mall owner Ruby Liu for 28 of the properties. That deal still needs landlord consent and court approval.
Interest has also poured in for the 4,400 artifacts and art pieces it owns, including the royal charter that formed the business.
Documents say the pieces have been catalogued and government entities, public institutions and Indigenous stakeholders are being invited to sign non-disclosure agreements to view the virtual database. Hudson’s Bay and its advisors are still formulating procedures that will dictate how an auction of the items will run.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
