Hudson's Bay ($TSX:HBC) announced that it is looking to sell or merge — or at least "pursue strategic alternatives" for — Lord + Taylor (or Lord & Taylor), which is part of its extensive luxury department portfolio. Given that the company also owns its namesake retail outlets, Saks 5th Avenue, and Galeria Kaufhof among others, it seems that the brand had a proximity problem while placed alongside its luxury department store sisters/competitors.

When looking at how its brand retail footprint is laid out, Lord + Taylor's challenge in a turbulent retail environment becomes clear: only three stores out its portfolio are more than 20 miles away from a sister store or from a Saks 5th Avenue. This is an emerging trend we've seen several times during the retail apocalypse, including with struggling rival J.C. Penney.

Below is every store location that has a proximity distance of over 10 miles:

Lord & Taylor Location Name

Street

City

State

Nearest Store Name #1

Nearest Distance (Miles)

Nearest Store Street #1

Nearest Store City #1

Nearest Store State #1

Crossgates Mall

1 Crossgates Mall Rd

Albany

NY

Westfarms Mall

87.105

400 West Farms Mall

Farmington

CT

East View Mall

7979 Pittsford Victor Rd

Victor

NY

Destiny USA

64.260

9629 Destiny USA Drive

Syracuse

NY

Westfarms Mall

400 West Farms Mall

Farmington

CT

CLINTON CROSSING PREMIUM OUTLETS

31.935

20 KILLINGWORTH TURNPIKE, SUITE 600

CLINTON

CT

Quakerbridge Mall

Route 1 & Quakerbridge Road

Lawrenceville

NJ

Freehold Raceway Mall

19.936

3710 Highway 9 Suite 1500

Freehold

NJ

Walden Galleria

8 Walden Galleria

Cheektowaga

NY

THE FASHION OUTLETS OF NIAGARA FALLS

17.086

1845 FASHION OUTLETS BLVD

NIAGARA FALLS

NY

Trumbull Shopping Park

5065 Main Street

Tumbull

CT

Danbury

16.827

7 Backus Avenue

Danbury

CT

Danbury

7 Backus Avenue

Danbury

CT

Trumbull Shopping Park

16.827

5065 Main Street

Tumbull

CT

Bridgewater Commons

400 Commons Way

Bridgewater

NJ

Westfield

16.294

609 North Avenue W.

Westfield

NJ

Natick Mall

1245 Worcester Road

Natick

MA

BOSTON

15.747

800 BOYLSTON STREET

BOSTON

MA

Annapolis Mall

1600 Annapolis Mall Road

Annapolis

MD

ARUNDEL MILLS

15.178

7000 ARUNDEL MILLS CIRCLE, SUITE E1

HANOVER

MD

Rockingham Park

99 Rockingham Park Boulevard

Salem

NH

MERRIMACK PREMIUM OUTLETS

14.262

80 PREMIUM OUTLETS BOULEVARD

MERRIMACK

NH

Rockaway Townsquare

301 Mount Hope Road

Rockaway

NJ

Livingston Mall

13.451

111 Eisenhower Parkway

Livingston

NJ

Freehold Raceway Mall

3710 Highway 9 Suite 1500

Freehold

NJ

SHREWSBURY PLAZA

12.999

260 SHREWSBURY PLAZA

SHREWSBURY

NJ

Lakeside Mall

14250 Lakeside Circle

Sterling Heights

MI

TROY - SOMERSET COLLECTION

11.058

2901 WEST BIG BEAVER ROAD

TROY

MI

While some of these stores are reasonably distant from each other, there were historical proximity problems that the brand faced on the East Coast. For example, below are the locations of two Lord + Taylor locations that existed on Long Island in the popular Garden City/Westbury shopping area.

Although Nassau County is home to over a million people, sticking two department stores that offer the same products within two miles of each other was too much. Especially because Lord + Taylor's Westbury location was in the failing Source Mall and was its largest tenant.

With Hudson's Bay looking to potentially trim its holdings, it — and its competitors — might want to look at proximity data to see why it is floundering during the retail apocalypse (although they probably already have when evaluating the brand's longevity). Sadly, Lord + Taylor's hard times took a bit of history out of New York as well, for its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, a historical landmark as of 2007, shut its doors in early 2019 after it partially sold out to make it WeWork office space.

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