Saks to Close Mag Mile Store in Bankruptcy Reorganization

Saks Fifth Avenue is pulling the plug on its longtime Magnificent Mile outpost, adding another high-profile vacancy to Chicago’s luxury retail corridor.

The New York–based retailer announced Friday that it will close its store at 700 North Michigan Avenue as part of a new round of cuts during its voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Crain’s first reported that the move will shutter the roughly 63,000-square-foot department store, one of 12 Saks locations nationwide slated to go dark.

The announcement follows an earlier wave of closures revealed in January, when Saks said it would shut down 62 stores, most of them Saks Off 5th discount stores. That list included the Off 5th store on Chicago’s State Street and several Neiman Marcus Last Call outlets.

The company framed the latest closures as a strategic retreat. In a statement, CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said the stores remaining in the portfolio “comprise the best performing and most desirable locations in markets with the highest concentration of luxury customers.” The company said the downsizing will allow it to focus on full-price luxury retail and strengthen relationships with brand partners.

Saks Global also owns Neiman Marcus, whose Michigan Avenue store a few blocks south at 737 North Michigan will remain open. The retailer said other Neiman Marcus stores, including stores in Honolulu; Canyon Park, California; and White Plains, New York, are slated to close, while the Dallas flagship and Houston Galleria store will stay open.

The collapse comes just over a year after Saks acquired Neiman Marcus in a $2.7 billion deal meant to create a luxury retail heavyweight with enough scale to cut costs and stabilize vendor relationships.

In Chicago, the closure is another test for the Magnificent Mile’s recovery, as it endured a wave of high-profile retail departures after 2020 as e-commerce growth and pandemic disruptions battered brick-and-mortar stores. But leasing activity has picked up in recent years, with new tenants such as Aritzia, Mango, Alo Yoga, H&M and the Harry Potter Shop Chicago helping refill storefronts, according to the publication.

Even so, vacancies remain elevated. The Mag Mile’s availability rate — which includes both empty space and space marketed for lease — stood at 28.1 percent at the end of 2025, according to brokerage Kirsch Agency.

The departure of Saks will leave another sizable block of prime retail space to fill along North Michigan Avenue.

— Eric Weilbacher