Canadian retail group Hudson Bay Company is planning to open 20 new stores in the Netherlands over the next 24 months – one of which will be situated in three buildings on the Rokin in Amsterdam.

The first stores are expected to launch in summer 2017 and operate under the Hudson’s Bay as well as the Saks OFF 5TH formats, the company said in a statement.

The location revamps will be funded primarily by the relevant landlords and HBC will invest in the operational aspects of the stores including merchandising and employees, the company said.

‘Expansion into the Netherlands is a natural extension of our existing presence in Belgium as well as our planned entry into Luxembourg and will complete our presence in all of the Benelux countries,’ said HBC chairman Richard Baker. ‘We were able to capitalise on an opportunity to select sought after high street real estate locations.’

Jobs

HBC first announced plans to come to the Netherlands following the bankruptcy of the V&D department store group. It is unclear if the company is taking over any of V&D’s 63 locations nationwide.

Marks & Spencer

Two of the locations earmarked for the Canadian company are on the Rokin in Amsterdam which had been earmarked for German retail group Haussmann and British company Marks & Spencer.

It is unclear what this development means for Marks & Spencer’s plans to launch a flagship store in the Dutch capital.

The company’s European head, Olivier Van den Bossche, said the expansion is expected to result in the creation of over 2,500 store jobs, 2,500 construction jobs and €300m in capital investments.

Founded in 1670, HBC is the oldest company in North America. HBC’s portfolio today includes ten formats with more than 460 stores and 66,000 employees around the world.