Jan 29 (Reuters) - Saks Global said on Thursday it will wind down the majority of its off-price operations, including its Saks OFF 5TH retail locations and remaining Neiman Marcus Last Call stores, to focus
on luxury retail and full-price sales amid its bankruptcy proceedings.
The high-end department store conglomerate filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month in one of the largest retail collapses since the pandemic, barely a year after a deal intended to create a luxury powerhouse brought Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus under the same roof.
Saks Global, in a filing from earlier in January, had disclosed that it would wind down its e-commerce business and liquidate it. The online arm of Saks OFF 5th, called SO5 Digital, was spun off in 2021, with Saks Global owning 80% of the unit.
The company said in its court filings that its Saks OFF 5TH business, including both online sales and brick-and-mortar retail, was projected to lose $139 million in fiscal year 2025. It plans to close most of its 74 Saks OFF 5TH stores and all five Neiman Marcus Last Call stores.
Select Saks OFF 5TH stores will remain open to serve as a selling channel for residual inventory from the conglomerate's other chains - which will continue operations in physical stores and online channels - including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores, Saks said on Thursday.
Saks Global will move away from purchasing merchandise directly for Saks OFF 5TH, and the entity's ecommerce and brick-and-mortar businesses could pivot to alternative transactions, it said.
"As we advance on Saks Global's transformation, we are taking decisive steps to realign our business to better serve our luxury customers and drive full-price selling across our core luxury businesses," Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Saks Global's new CEO, said.
(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru and Dietrich Knauth in New York; Editing by Pooja Desai)
