2024 OCTOBER ISSUE
THE RISE & FALL OF
AMERICAN
DEPARTMENT STORES
PART 3
Written by Terri Fisher
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From the Desk of the Publisher
This time our retail correspondent, Terri, is featuring Sakes and Niemen Marcus. She rightly pointed out that information can be outdated as the retail scene of department stores changes constantly, if not monthly, but certainly yearly. But this time the two department stores that she featured have a very dynamic relationship between them that may make them different.
Saks flagship store is in New York City’s 5th Avenue between East 50th and 49th Street. It has a long history and was opened since 1867 by Andrew Saks. It will be celebrating its 160th birthday next year.
Saks is not known for discount or any bargaining, but in the 1990s, it launched its Saks Off Fifth and has been well received.
In 2013, Canadian-based Hudson’s Bay Company acquired Saks Fifth Avenue, and in July 2024, it announced the plan to acquire Neiman Marcus in a $2.65 billion merger.
This acquisition created Saks Global and it would bring some excitement to the retail world. The luxury industry players, LVMH and Kering, would not be able to take them lightly this time, although earlier they were shrew enough trying to drive customers directly to their stores.
We hope that both of them would head to a successful merger and customers would find that they have been pampered with hospitality and service and enjoy what the department store can offer.
