Lord & Taylor may soon have a new owner.
Owner Hudson’s Bay Company is considering selling or merging the chain of department stores, according to the Wall Street Journal. The talks are focused on the operating business, not the real estate, and Hudson’s Chairman Richard Baker has also been asking landlords about buying back leases and discussing plans to redevelop some Lord & Taylor sites without the famed department store.
Hudson’s Bay sold half of its European operations last year and announced in February that it would shutter its Home Outfitters business and up to 20 Saks Off 5th stores. It said it would close 10 Lord & Taylor stores last year, including the flagship location on Fifth Avenue that it sold to a consortium including the We Company.
Lord & Taylor has been struggling along with several other retail outlets recently, with revenue of about $1.04 billion last year, down from about $1.4 billion 10 years ago. [WSJ] – Eddie Small