RMK Investments, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company that sells and installs the Hunter Douglas brand of home interior blinds and custom-made draperies which were sold exclusively through the Hudson’s Bay (“HBC”) Department stores, filed a proposal on January 21, listing $882.6M in liabilities, including $307.5M to Hunter Douglas Canada. Under the terms of its contract with HBC, the company was not allowed to perform any of its own direct marketing to customers. Previously, the company had the advantage of selling the Hunter Douglas brand of blinds which were not available to much of the competition. This allowed the company to operate its business on a high volume and high margin basis. In the past several years, however, big box retailers such as Costco and Home Depot also began to sell the Hunter Douglas brand of blinds. The increased competition and existing marketing constraints on the company reduced its margins, ultimately resulting in negative profitability. The company will cease operations on January 31. The Bowra Group is the proposal trustee.