Saks Fifth Avenue is consolidating its presence in Greenwich, Conn., from three stores down to one, but stressed that it is not abandoning the market.
“Saks Global has made the strategic decision to consolidate our Saks Fifth Avenue Greenwich presence to create a more cohesive shopping experience for our Greenwich customers,” Saks confirmed to WWD in a statement Tuesday, confirming growing buzz in the market. “This planned consolidation, unrelated to the company’s Chapter 11 process, is intended to centralize our Greenwich offering under one roof, enabling us to deliver a more streamlined and convenient shopping experience. We remain committed to serving the Greenwich community through our main Saks Fifth Avenue store location.”
The stand-alone Saks men’s store on Greenwich Avenue will close Saturday. “We look forward to serving our men’s customers at our nearby Neiman Marcus Westchester store and online,” a spokesperson said.
Neiman’s has a store in The Westchester mall, across the state line in New York.
Saks’ women’s shoe store in Greenwich, at 20 Elm Street, will relocate into the main 35,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue Greenwich women’s store, at 205 Greenwich Avenue, in June. Previously, a separate Saks jewelry store, known as The Vault, moved into the women’s store in Greenwich.
“This is a planned strategic consolidation, not a broader market exit,” the spokeswoman said.
Originally, Saks had one department store on Greenwich Avenue, but converted it to women’s only after establishing the “Saks Shops at Greenwich” complex with separate shops covering women’s designer, contemporary, men’s, jewelry and footwear, seizing upon available real estate.
Breaking up Saks into separate stores wasn’t the most convenient for shoppers, though they are all within a block or two of each other. There’s also some serious competitors in Greenwich, including Zara, La Ligne, Vince, J.Crew, Richard’s, Theory, Veronica Beard, Rag & Bone, Frame, Alice + Olivia, Nili Lotan and The Real Real.
Nationally, as the plan at the bankrupt Saks Global stands now, 15 Saks Fifth Avenue stores will stay in business, and Neiman Marcus will operate with 33 stores. This year, Saks Global has closed or is in the process of closing 18 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, three Neiman Marcus stores, 57 Saks Off 5th stores, the five Last Call clearance centers for Neiman Marcus and the Horchow catalogue.
On a more positive note, Simon Property Group and Saks Global have reached an agreement to keep in place a Saks Off 5th store in the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets store in Central Valley, N.Y., and a Neiman Marcus store in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif.
Simon was seeking to take back the leases on the Saks Global units due to rents on the properties that were not paid. The agreement must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, where Saks’ reorganization proceedings are being held. Reportedly, the agreement involved new lease terms at some other Saks Global locations at Simon properties, including certain Saks Off 5th units, and certain full-price luxury department stores.
Simon and Saks Global have been busy negotiating terms on several locations. In late March, Saks Global said it decided to keep operating two Saks Fifth Avenue stores, in Sarasota, Fla., and Palm Desert, Calif., and the Neiman Marcus store at The Westchester that were part of the group of 24 locations previously marked for closure. All three malls are owned by Simon.
