By Danielle Kaye
NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Saks Global emerged from bankruptcy last week with fewer stores and a renewed focus on upscale luxury, as it looks to close a rocky chapter in its storied history.
But the American department store conglomerate now faces its next battle: winning back customers in a strained luxury market and avoiding ending up back in court, a trend all too common among bankrupt brick-and-mortar retailers.
Saks Global was formed through a debt-fueled merger in 2024 to encompass
Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman - three mainstays of U.S. luxury fashion that have for more than a century connected American shoppers to exclusive brands. The original Saks Fifth Avenue store was opened by retail pioneer Andrew Saks in 1867.
The company, now renamed Exemplar Luxury Group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January after vendor payment delays and months of withheld inventory.
Saks says it is on stronger financial footing after more than halving its store network to focus on its best-performing premium outlets, while largely abandoning its off-price stores.
The streamlined strategy, the company says, will help it achieve its lofty financial targets, including revenue growth at a compound annual rate of 7% between fiscal years 2027 and 2030.
To get there, it needs to woo back shoppers.
That is still an open question, said Mark Cohen, former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School. Luxury brands from Chanel to Louis Vuitton often funnel their best products to their own proprietary stores - even more so amid Saks' woes, he said.
Meanwhile, rivals Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom have jumped on Saks' troubles to bring in business.
"The Saks-Neiman network has to start demonstrating positive sales," Cohen said. "Their forecasts for recovery are highly optimistic."
The restructuring also slashed Saks' debt 75% to about $1.2 billion, wiped out Saks' shareholders including Amazon and handed control to its senior lenders.
LEVERAGE FOR ESSENTIAL BRANDS
Saks' biggest luxury vendors already enjoyed a leg up throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, securing exclusive payouts for pre-bankruptcy claims while many smaller brands have been left with little recourse, according to four people with direct knowledge of the payments.
The dynamic reflects the sway that leading luxury brands will continue to hold as Saks zeroes in on high-end retail. Saks also ended its e-commerce partnership with Amazon during the bankruptcy proceedings as part of its shift away from mass-market shopping.
High-end designer and luxury is "the space that they understand best," said Gary Wassner, the CEO of Hilldun, a factoring firm that guarantees orders for about 180 Saks vendors.
Jonathan Saven, the CEO of luxury women’s fashion brand L'Agence, said he trusts Saks' new management team to operate the company successfully.
Many smaller luxury brands, however, are poised to get the short end of the stick. One Saks vendor, who is owed at least $20,000 in unpaid invoices, said he has not recovered any of his pre-bankruptcy claims - and he has given up on the prospect of getting the money back.
The company said nearly half of the vendors that were offered recovery on pre-petition claims were small and independent designers and brands.
CONCESSION AND CONSIGNMENT
Fashion brands are vying for more control over their inventory to shield themselves from future financial turmoil.
Saks is keeping hundreds of agreements that let vendors lease space in its department stores or retain control of their products until they are sold, court filings show. Now, some brands that do not yet have these so-called concession and consignment agreements are hoping to sign them, according to three sources familiar with vendors' plans.
But it could tee up a fresh battle. Wholesale makes up 75% of Saks' business, a company spokesperson said - a model that "will account for an even larger share of our revenue going forward.” The company said it "regularly" works with brands on joint strategies but will keep prioritizing wholesale.
Concession and consignment deals could also further box out smaller and emerging brands.
"It's not a fair system," said Thomai Serdari, a luxury brand strategist and marketing professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "It favors brands that have more capital available."
(Reporting by Danielle Kaye, Editing by Lisa Jucca and Alistair Bell)
