Saks Set To Close 11 Locations

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/11/2004 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE), a business segment of retailer Saks Incorporated, will close eight Saks Fifth Avenue stores and three Off 5th stores.

The Saks locations to be closed are located in: Carmel, Calif., Garden City, N.Y., La Jolla, Calif., Pasadena, Calif., Fort Worth, Texas, Mission Viejo, Calif., and Palos Verdes, Calif. One of the Saks locations — Hilton Head, S.C. — will be converted into an Off 5th store.

The Off 5th closings are located in Worcester, Mass., Grove City, Pa., and Nashville, Tenn.

Fred Wilson, chairman and CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises, said, “After completing an extensive review of our store base, we are taking steps to rationalize our real estate portfolio to improve profitability. We intend to close eight Saks Fifth Avenue stores and three Off 5th locations, which represent approximately 7 percent of SFAE's square footage but less than 4 percent of the revenues. These actions will permit our team to focus capital, inventory, and other resources on our most productive units and will further strengthen our brand.”

Wilson continued, “The stores to be closed generate annual revenues of approximately $90 million. Subsequent to the closings and the one conversion, we will operate 56 Saks Fifth Avenue stores with 6.2 million square feet of space and 52 Off 5th stores with 1.5 million square feet.”