Saks Fifth Avenue (colloquially Saks) is an upmarket American department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington, D.C., and expanded into Manhattan with its Herald Square store in 1902. Saks was bought by the Gimbels department store chain in 1923 and expanded nationwide during this ownership, and opened its flagship store on Fifth Avenue in 1924. Gimbels and Saks were acquired by Brown & Williamson in 1973, and transferred to sister company Batus Inc. in 1980. While Gimbels was liquidated in 1987, Saks was sold to Investcorp in 1990. Saks Off 5th was established as a Saks clearance store the same year, and has since evolved into an off-price store chain. Saks was acquired by Proffitt's, Inc. (renamed Saks, Inc.) in 1998.
Saks, Inc. was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company in 2013. Saks and Saks Off 5th were spun-off into Saks Global, and consequently became sister brands with department stores Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, in 2024. As of 2026, Saks Fifth Avenue operates one international branch in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Stores previously operated in Canada through the Hudson's Bay Company from 2016 until 2025, in Mexico through a franchising agreement with Grupo Sanborns from 2007 until 2023, and across the Middle East from 2001 until 2025.
Early history
In 1867, brothers Isadore and Andrew Saks established the men's clothing store, A. Saks & Co. The company occupied a storefront in the Avenue House Hotel building at 517 (300–308) 7th Street, N.W., in what is still Washington's downtown shopping district. Saks offered his goods at one price only and offered refunds on merchandise returns. Saks was also known for its "forceful and interesting, but strictly truthful" newspaper advertising, according to the Washington Evening Star, including a two-page spread, large for that time, in that newspaper on April 4, 1898. In 1887, Saks acquired began building a new location on the site of the old Avenue Hotel Building at 7th and Market Space (now United States Navy Memorial Plaza).
By 1896, Saks and Co. had stores in Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia; New York City; and Indianapolis, in addition to Washington, D.C., where, Saks called itself "Washington's Wonderful Store".
20th-century history
Saks opened its New York City Herald Square on 34th Street and Broadway in 1902. Andrew Saks ran the New York store as a family business with his brother Isadore, and his sons Horace and William. Following Andrew Saks' death in 1912, his son Horace took over the company's management.
Gimbels ownership In 1923, Saks & Co. merged with Gimbel Brothers, Inc., owned by a cousin of Horace Saks, Bernard Gimbel, operating as a separate autonomous subsidiary. In September 1924, the two opened a location architected by Starrett & van Vleck the Saks Fifth Avenue Building. The location acquired a full-block avenue frontage south of St. Patrick's Cathedral, facing what would become Rockefeller Center.
Location expansions
1920s - 1930s Following Horace Saks' death in 1926, Adam Gimbel became president of Saks Fifth Avenue in 1926. The company then expanded, opening seasonal resort branches in Palm Beach (1926), Atlantic City (1927), Lincoln Road in Miami Beach (1929), Southampton on Long Island (1931), Newport, Rhode Island (1935), Sun Valley, Idaho and Westbury, L.I. (1936), and Greenwich, Connecticut (1937).See citations at Timeline of Saks Fifth Avenue branches
In 1929, Saks opened its first full-line, year-round flagship store in Chicago. Six years later, the flagship store relocated to a larger location. By the end of the 1930s, Saks Fifth Avenue had a total of 10 stores – the two urban flagships in New York and Chicago, and eight resort stores.
1940s - 1960s During World War II, Saks opened Navy and Army shops in New Haven, Connecticut, and Princeton, New Jersey, and after the war turned the small branches into University Shops, catering to the Ivy League communities there.
By 1940, Saks opened two additional urban flagship stores: in Beverly Hills, and in Detroit. Three more downtown stores opened between 1949 and 1952, including Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Saks Fifth Avenue's first department store in a mall opened in 1954, at Sunrise Center, now The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale. Additional locations opened in malls through the 1990s.
A few of the new suburban stores were freestanding in suburbs that had a significant downtown shopping district, such as in White Plains, New York (1954), and both Garden City, Long Island, and Surfside, near Miami in 1962. Additional stores were built in downtown locations, such as New Orleans, Boston, and Minneapolis.
More University Shops opened, one near Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., another in Ann Arbor, Michigan (1960).
1990s - 2020s
More expansion followed through in the 1990s in Texas, Florida and California. Plans to open in Mexico City were cancelled following the Mexican peso crisis in 1995. California-based I. Magnin closed in 1995, allowing Saks acquired former I. Magnin locations following the latter's closing in 1995, allowing for expansion into San Diego's Fashion Valley and Carmel. The company opened an additional set of downtown locations in areas such as Pasadena, Santa Barbara, and San Diego's La Jolla in California, and in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Charleston, South Carolina.
In Texas, Saks acquired three Texas locations where Marshall Field's was exiting. In 1997 Saks moved its main Houston store from the Saks Pavilion to The Galleria and added a new location at Town & Country. In the Dallas Galleria, Saks moved within the mall to a larger location. In addition to the former Field's locations, Saks Austin opened in 1997 and Fort Worth in 2000.
In Florida in the 1990s, seven Saks Fifth Avenue stores opened, for a total of 11 stores by the end of the decade, adding Palm Beach Gardens, Naples, Fort Myers, Orlando, Sarasota, Tampa and doubled the size of its Boca Raton store.
Acquisitions and mergers
Acquisition by Brown & Williamson and BATUS, Inc In 1973, tobacco conglomerate, Brown & Williamson acquired the Gimbels chain, including Saks Fifth Avenue brand. In 1990, Brown & Williamson, under the name BATUS, sold Saks Fifth Avenue for $1.5 billion.
Acquisition by Investcorp and Proffitt's Also in 1990, the company launched Saks Off 5th, an outlet store offshoot of the main brand, with 107 stores worldwide by 2016.
In 1998, Proffitt's, Inc., the parent company of Proffitt's and other department stores, acquired Saks Holdings, Inc. Upon completing the acquisition, Proffitt's, Inc., changed its name to Saks, Inc.
Acquisition by Hudson's Bay Company In July 2013, Canada-based Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the oldest commercial corporation in North America and owner of the competing chain Lord & Taylor, announced it would acquire Saks Fifth Avenue's parent company for $2.9 billion.
In 2015 Saks began a $250 million, three-year restoration of its Fifth Avenue flagship store. In October 2015, Saks announced a new location in Greenwich, Connecticut. In autumn 2015, Saks announced it would replace its existing store at the Houston Galleria with a new store.
On January 15, 2021, Saks Fifth Avenue unveiled a space on the fifth floor of its New York flagship, branded Barneys at Saks. The collaboration is aimed at continuing Barneys New York tradition of unearthing and promoting emerging designers. On January 25, Saks launched the first standalone Barneys at Saks store in a location in Greenwich, Connecticut. This marked the first time Saks had offered men's clothing and furnishings in that market. In March, HBC and growth capital investor, Insight Partners, established Saks Fifth Avenue's ecommerce business as a stand-alone entity, known as "Saks". Insight Partners made a $500 million minority equity investment in Saks. The retailer's 39-store fleet operates separately as an entity referred to as "SFA," which remained wholly owned by HBC. At the time of the separation, HBC named Marc Metrick, CEO of Saks, the ecommerce business. Metrick was previously president of Saks Fifth Avenue since 2015.
In April, Saks announced that it would close all 27 of its fur salons, among which New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Beverly Hills, by the end of January 2022. The company also said that by January 2023, it would stop sales of products made from fur of wild animals or from animals raised for their fur.Palash Ghosh (April 7, 2021). "Saks Fifth Avenue To Stop Selling Fur Products By 2023". Forbes. In August, the company announced a collaboration with WeWork to convert some Saks spaces to co-working locations. In June 2022, Saks announced that it would convert the original 1938 store building in Beverly Hills, 9600 Wilshire, into offices and apartments. Saks Beverly Hills continued to operate from the former I. Magnin and Barneys buildings, which had previously been incorporated into the store complex.
Saks Global/Exemplar Luxury Group In July 2024 Saks announced that it planned to acquire rival retailer Neiman Marcus in a reported $2.65 billion merger. The acquisition was finalised in December 2024 and Saks Fifth Avenue became part of the new holding company Saks Global. Amazon invested $475 million into Saks’ acquisition of Neiman Marcus.
Bankruptcy On January 14, 2026, Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling with heavy debt relying on its acquisition and merger of Neiman Marcus. The company also blamed a rapid consumer shift in luxury goods due to inflating prices. Amazon filed an objection to Saks Global’s bankruptcy financing plan, citing the fact that Saks failed to hold up their agreement and worried that bankruptcy will push Amazon further down the repayment pecking order. The company reemerged from bankruptcy as Exemplar Luxury Group.
21st-century history In 2004, Saks saw an annual sales growth rate of 7.7% on a same-store basis, but was underperforming Neiman Marcus (+17%) and Nordstrom (+10%). In Southern California, analysts said that Saks was "struggling to maintain its cachet" against the two competitors and Bloomingdales. On October 1, Saks announced the closing of eight underperforming stores: Pasadena, Palos Verdes, Mission Viejo, La Jolla and Carmel in California, Garden City NY, Hilton Head SC, and Downtown Minneapolis.
In August 2007, the United States Postal Service began an experimental program selling the plus ZIP code extension to businesses. The first company to do so was Saks Fifth Avenue, which received the ZIP code of 10022-7463 ("SHOE", on a U.S. touch-tone keypad) for the eighth-floor shoe department in its flagship Fifth Avenue store.
During the 2007–2009 recession, Saks had to cut prices and profit margins, thus according to Reuters "training shoppers to expect discounts. It took three years before it could start selling at closer to full price".
As of 2013, the New York flagship store, whose real estate value was estimated between $800 million and over $1 billion at the time, generated around 20% of Saks' annual sales at $620 million, with other stores being less profitable according to analysts.
In January 2026, Marc Metrick resigned as chief executive of the company with immediate effect. He was replaced by executive chairman Richard Baker, who will hold both positions.
After a 2026 restructuring, many locations will close, leaving the chain with 13 stores. The following Saks locations will close permanently: Walt Whitman (Huntington Station, New York) American Dream (East Rutherford, New Jersey) Bala Plaza (Philadelphia) Tysons Galleria (McLean, Virginia) Wisconsin Avenue (Chevy Chase, Maryland) Stony Point Fashion Park (Richmond, Virginia) Triangle Town Center (Raleigh, North Carolina) The Summit (Birmingham, Alabama) Shops at Canal Place (New Orleans) University Town Center (Sarasota, Florida) Beachwood Place (Beachwood, Ohio)