Hudson’s Bay store to be demolished in southern Ontario

Plans have been announced to demolish a Hudson’s Bay store in southern Ontario.

It has been over a year since the Hudson’s Bay Company closed all 96 stores across Canada in May 2025. In that time, most stores have remained vacant.

Now, the fate of one former store has been announced.

Primaris, a Canadian company that owns and manages enclosed shopping centres across the country, announced it has purchased a former Bay store in Windsor.

On June 5, 2026, Primaris closed on a $4.5 million deal to purchase the vacant Hudson’s Bay Company store at Devonshire Mall in Windsor, the company said in an update on its leasing and redevelopment. The standalone store was separately owned.

“Primaris plans to demolish this space and redesign a new mall entrance, and accordingly does not include this space in its analysis of former HBC space,” the company said.

The former Hudson’s Bay Company store first opened as a Simpson’s department store at Devonshire Mall in September 1974, according to an advertisement from the opening.

An advertisement announces the opening of Simpson’s at Devonshire Mall in Windsor.

Hudson’s Bay Company acquired Simpsons in 1978, but kept stores open under the Simpsons name for many years, according to a story on Retail Insider.

The Devonshire Mall location converted to The Bay on Aug. 1, 1986, as Hudson’s Bay Company began consolidating its department store operations nationally, Retail Insider said. The store closed on June 1, 2025.

There is no word yet on when the vacant store will be demolished.

The news comes as plans move forward for other former Bay stores.

In June, Georgian Mall in Barrie announced it had secured three tenants to occupy the former Hudson’s Bay unit in the mall.

And Walmart Canada announced plans to occupy the former Hudson’s Bay store at Place d’Orléans in Ottawa.

Lead photo of Hudson’s Bay Company at Devonshire Mall: Google Maps