The unrest in the department store business seems to have no end in sight. Now potentially on the horizon: a tie-up that would turn several of the biggest luxury rivals into siblings.

Neiman Marcus, the struggling high-end retailer, is in talks to sell itself to the Hudson’s Bay Co., the Canadian retail giant, according to a person briefed on the discussions. A deal would put Neiman Marcus under the same umbrella as Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.

The talks highlight wider troubles at department stores, which have had trouble adjusting to the new ways that people shop, including online.

Neiman Marcus, Macy’s and others have been unable to keep pace with Amazon, which has conditioned shoppers to expect low-cost goods delivered quickly. Traditional high-end retailers also face increasingly strong competition from off-price physical stores like T. J. Maxx.

“I look at this just as moving the deck chairs around on the proverbial Titanic,” Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, said about a potential merger between Hudson’s Bay and Neiman Marcus.

As part of a financial disclosure, Neiman Marcus said on Tuesday that it was evaluating its strategic options. Burdened by about $5 billion in debt and slumping sales, Neiman Marcus said a potential sale of itself was among the avenues being explored. The company did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, Hudson’s Bay said it did not discuss “market rumors.”

But it added, “Generally speaking, as we have previously stated, we selectively evaluate opportunities to accelerate the company’s strategic growth while maintaining or enhancing its credit profile.”

Neiman Marcus said in its disclosure it had not set a timetable to evaluate its options.

Financial details about a merger were unclear, but any deal sought by Hudson’s Bay would not require it to assume Neiman Marcus’s debt, according to the person with knowledge of the talks. The stock of Hudson’s Bay closed down slightly Tuesday.

News of the potential acquisition was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based luxury retailer known for its high-end designers and annual catalog of holiday fantasy gifts, operates 42 stores in the United States, and two Bergdorf Goodman stores in Manhattan, according to its website. There is one Last Call, Neiman Marcus’s cheaper option, in Brooklyn.