Article content As some Hudson’s Bay stores started to reopen in Metro Vancouver this week, one retail expert said the earlier widespread closures related to problems with air-conditioning systems threatened to further jeopardize the relationship between the Canadian retail giant and its waning customer base. “Hudson’s Bay has an older customer base. For them, the retail experience is the most important thing,” said Darrell Kopke, a business professor at the University of B.
C. “So, if your customers come in and it’s prohibitively hot, that’s a negative experience associated with your brand. This means some customers will decide not to return.
” On Thursday, shoppers were able to return to several Hudson’s Bay stores, including those in Burnaby, Richmond and West Vancouver. But stores in downtown Vancouver, Coquitlam and Surrey remained closed due to what the company said was a strain on the stores’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. And in some stores that had reopened it appeared the HVAC issues remained unresolved.
For instance, at The Bay store at Park Royal shopping centre in West Vancouver, numerous portable fans whirred throughout the display floor and all the doors leading in and out of the store were propped open to promote air circulation. “It’s very warm in there. The fan doesn’t do anything.
It just pushes the warm air around,” said one customer who declined to provide her name but identified herself as a longtime former Z.