Saks Global, in an initial round of luxury store closings, disclosed Tuesday that eight Saks Fifth Avenue stores and one Neiman Marcus location are set to close later this year.
Additionally, the Horchow home catalogue and 14 Fifth Avenue Clubs, which are stand-alone personal styling suites, will be closed.
The bankrupt Saks Global last month disclosed that 57 Saks Off 5th stores are closing, leaving just 12 standing to handle merchandise not liquidated by the units shutting down this season. Last Call, the clearance outlet for Neiman Marcus, is also seeing its last days, with all five closing.
The closings are among Saks Global’s restructuring efforts being initiated during the company’s Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings.
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The nine luxury stores shutting represent what Saks Global said is “an initial phase of optimization across the Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus store footprint.”
The eight Saks Fifth Avenue stores closing are at The Summit in Birmingham, Ala.; Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, Ohio; American Dream in East Rutherford, N.J.; Shops at Canal Place in New Orleans; Bala Plaza outside of Philadelphia; Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix; Stony Point Fashion Park in Richmond, Va., and Utica Square in Tulsa, Okla.
Neiman Marcus in Copley Place in Boston is also closing.
There are 33 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 36 Neiman Marcus stores, two Bergdorf Goodman doors.
The Fifth Avenue Club strategy was originally created to serve Saks Fifth Avenue customers in markets without a physical store presence. But since the $2.7 billion acquisition of NMG by Saks Global in December 2024, the company can serve customers in many of the markets where a Fifth Avenue Club is closing through the Neiman Marcus store portfolio. Two stand-alone Fifth Avenue Clubs will continue to operate in Indianapolis and Honolulu and a third site is expected to open in Palm Beach, Fla., this fall.
“We are initiating a series of actions to reinforce Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman as the ultimate destinations for luxury with a seamless multichannel shopping experience,” Geoffroy van Raemdonck, chief executive officer of Saks Global, said in a statement Tuesday. “By optimizing our operational footprint, we will be better positioned to deliver exceptional products, elevated experiences and highly personalized service across all channels, while simultaneously positioning our company to make investments that enable long-term growth and value creation. Importantly, opportunities within the luxury market remain strong, and Saks Global is primed to play a distinct, enduring role within the industry for many years to come.”
The company also expects that by streamlining it can sharpen its focus on luxury and full-price selling and invest more in its remaining locations with elevated in-store experiences and activations, store enhancements and better assortments.
There has been speculation that a total of about 20 Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus stores could ultimately shut down. Neiman’s stores overall have been more productive than Saks Fifth Avenue stores.
Saks Global also indicated that the vast majority of the stores within this phase of closures are unprofitable and in smaller markets with limited growth potential. In four of the nine markets where Saks Global luxury stores are closing, there is another Saks Global store that could pick up business from the locations shutting down. Those four stores are in the Boston, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Philadelphia and Paramus, N.J., markets.
“Go-forward locations are being determined as part of our ongoing footprint optimization plan, based on a number of factors, including performance and lease economics,” Saks Global stated.
There are no changes to the Bergdorf Goodman footprint. Bergdorf’s operates a women’s store and a men’s store opposite each other on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus stores will close at the end of April. The Fifth Avenue Club styling suites will close on Saturday.
Asked how much volume is lost as a result of the closings, Saks responded, “These Saks and Neiman Marcus locations represent a small portion of our business, accounting for only a small, single-digit percentage of our annual GMV [gross merchandise value] and were unprofitable collectively.”
Asked how many employees are affected by the closings, Saks responded, “At this time, we aren’t able to provide a number as we are providing transfer opportunities where available.” However, the Horchow transition will not result in any job impacts, the company noted.
Beginning Feb. 19, customers looking to shop with Horchow will be directed to the home category on neimanmarcus.com, where Saks Global indicated shoppers will continue to find the full assortment of brands and product categories previously available on horchow.com.
“Neiman Marcus’ home category already featured Horchow’s full assortment, so while this pivot will create a more seamless and cohesive shopping journey, nothing will change in terms of the Home offering that Horchow customers have come to expect,” the company stated. “All orders placed on horchow.com before Feb. 19 will be honored and fulfilled as normal. There will be no disruptions to order processing, delivery or customer service for these purchases.”
