Saks Fifth Avenue to shutter Brookfield Place store

Only two years after opening the Brookfield Place location, Saks Fifth Avenue’s women’s store is calling it quits.
Saks will close its 86,000-square-foot women’s store on Jan. 5 because it wasn’t enough of a draw compared to the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship, the New York Post reported. 
“This Saks branch location was a test concept,” Saks said in a statement. According to store representatives, customers’ “preferred format is a combination of our digital channels and our iconic Fifth Avenue flagship.”
The company, however, is keeping its 16,700-square-foot men’s store, which is located across the mall from the women’s store.
Meanwhile, near the Saks flagship, Lord & Taylor is emptying its 104-year-old store at 425 Fifth Avenue. The store’s parent company, Hudson’s Bay, struck a deal to sell the building to WeWork in October 2017 for $854 million. The co-working company and its partner Rhone Capital, however, have yet to close on the building.

Jonathan Litt, an activist investor on the Hudson’s Bay board, pushed last year to stack luxury condos on Saks’ Fifth Avenue flagship store at  611 Fifth Avenue. 

[NYP] — Kathryn Brenzel