Hudson's Bay Co. will likely make future job cuts in its merchandising group, industry watchers speculated Friday, a day after the retailer announced it was eliminating 825 management positions.
Could this mean the end of a Canadian staple? Is The Bay going the way of the dinosaur and Eatons? Could be.
Does this exemplify the current state of the Canadian economy? It might and it might not. Drastic measures as this show that we are not investing in the big box companies as much as we used to (or we've given all our money to Walmart and no other). It might also signify a move on our part to support the smaller Mom and Pop stores. If the latter is the case, watch out Walmart!
I don't think so though. I think stores like Sears and The Bay can't compete in a market where Walmart and other stores like it can offer goods at half the price. It's great that The Bay has a better reputation than Walmart. Their clothes are more fashionable, their TV's are Sony and Toshiba instead of NeXXtech (whatever that is), and their furniture might just last you a couple of years instead of a couple of months. It doesn't mean shit when it comes down to it though.
The majority of us are just scraping by as it is. We need to save that 50% in a pretty bad way. We're cows who are being led along and we just don't care. Not many of us think, "Oh, this might only last a year. I better not get it."
No, we're all thinking, "Wow! $29.99 for a whole home entertainment system!" Never mind it was made in a sweatshop somewhere.
There are also some of us who think, "Wow! $29.99 for a whole home entertainment system! Wait, that's not cool. Something's going to break on it before the 15 day warranty is up. But wait, what was that? $29.99? Ah, what the hell." And they buy it anyway because it's cheap.
Good luck to The Bay, Sears, and all the rest.
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