Defying marketplace trends, Hudson’s Bay Company is scheduled to open the first Hudson’s Bay store outside Canada in its 347-year history on Tuesday, in Amsterdam, as part of an ambitious expansion in the Netherlands.

The Star spoke with HBC’s chief executive officer, Jerry Storch, and Edo Beukema, chief merchant, HBC Europe. The questions and answers have been edited.

Q: Where is the first store?

Storch: The first store is in downtown Amsterdam, right on the Rokin, right in the centre of Amsterdam and additional stores will open in the coming days. Most of them are in city centres, some are in shopping malls.

Q: How many stores are you opening this year?

We’re opening 10 stores this year. The next two will open later in the week, also right downtown, in The Hague and Rotterdam, and then other large cities. All 10 stores will open by Sept. 21.

Q: Is the target still to open 20 stores in the Netherlands?

Storch: We announced 10 for this year, and additionally two Saks OFF Fifth stores and then another five Hudson’s Bay stores for next year, so we’re all ready at that point to 17 stores. So we are well on our way to our targets.

Q: Are you still looking at two years?

Storch: All of the 17 stores will be opened this year or next.

Q: How do these stores compare to Hudson Bay stores in Canada?

Storch: Some of the visual elements would be in line with what you might find in some of our recently remodeled stores — at Yorkdale for example. You’ll see the stripes in abundance, including heritage products. Yet we also had the opportunity to work with a clean slate and so the floor plans are more open than traditional department stores, with more flexibility.

Q: Hudson’s Bay has properties in Germany and Belgium as well. Why the Netherlands first?

Storch: There is tremendous affinity between the Dutch and Canadians. You may know that the Canadian army liberated the Netherlands during the Second World War, and additionally that crown princess Juliana of the Netherlands was in exile in Canada during the war and in fact had her daughter in Canada. They declared a wing of the hospital Dutch territory to make sure he was born on Dutch soil.

Meanwhile, there was an opportunity in the Netherlands to develop a true national department store for the country – it’s a very robust and exciting marketplace. Given that we’re already in Germany next door and in Belgium right next door as well, then this is almost a missing puzzle piece that completes the circle in northern Europe.

Q: How much competition is there for department stores in the Netherlands?

Beukema: This is a very fragmented market. There are some specialty chains and a luxury department store chain, but they don’t have coverage across the Netherlands. I think we have found a great sweet spot in this market.

Q: Is Hudson’s Bay in the Netherlands more upscale than here?

Storch: In general these stores are in the upper half, if you will, of the Hudson’s Bay Canada stores in terms of the assortment. As you know, Hudson’s Bay in Canada can be quite upscale, we customize it to the marketplace. We’re in big cities and fancy malls like Sherway and Yorkdale and downtown Toronto, but we’re also in small towns throughout Canada. So we think it’s about equivalent to the upper half of the Hudson’s Bay stores.

Q: Does the departure of Don Watros, president, HBC International, signal that the international expansion isn’t going as planned?

Storch: No, we remain committed to our geographic expansion and I believe that entering the Netherlands is great proof of that and very indicative of our future direction.

Q: Other department stores are scaling back. What makes HBC so sure that there is life left in the department store?

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Storch: We believe that you need to build the department store for the future and not the department store of the past, so when you visit these stores, you’ll see that they are very contemporary, that the merchandise reflects the tastes of today, that we’ve integrated technology and the all-channel model throughout the experience – we’ll also be launching our Netherlands website on the same date because the all-channel shopping experience is the experience of the future.

One of the consequences is that you probably don’t need as many department stores to cover a country as you used to need. V&D (a defunct Dutch department store chain) had 60 department stores and we’re opening 20 and we think that covers the country perfectly.

In Canada you’ve had a lot of consolidation of department stores. In the U.S. you’ve had a lot of store closures. So what you’re seeing around the world is not the elimination of department stores, but the right-sizing of their penetration in the marketplace.

Q: There are 90 Hudson’s Bay stores in Canada. Does that mean you have too many?

Storch: Keep in mind that we have had many department store competitors in Canada leave over the years, so it’s not nearly as penetrated as the United States.

Q: Is HBC looking at new acquisitions anywhere else?

Storch: We never comment on that.

Q: Why is HBC seeking to go private so soon after going public?

Storch: No comment.

Q: Are you seeking to go private?

Storch: No comment.

Q: What is attractive about Hudson’s Bay for the Dutch consumer?

Beukema: The Dutch customer is ready for something new: newness in assortment, in marketing, in service. I have toured the stores the past few days and they’re covered up and you see customers, they are very curious, they try to look inside – we even had to ask some people to leave who snuck into a store – I am convinced that this market is ready for new concepts.

Correction – September 6, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the queen of the Netherlands was in exile in Canada during the Second World War and that she gave birth to a son while in Canada. As well, the article mistakenly referred to the Dutch army liberating Netherlands during the Second World War.