Saks Closes Outlet Stores After Saga of Not Paying Billions on Time

KEY POINTS

•Saks Global filed for bankruptcy in January after missing payments to vendors for over a year.
•The company is closing most Saks Off 5th and Last Call stores to focus on luxury markets.
•Alongside store closures, Saks shut down a Florida facility, resulting in at least 74 layoffs.

In a twist that screams 'luxury crisis,' Saks Global, parent to delights like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, announced it’s shuttering the majority of its bargain basement siblings, Saks Off 5th and Last Call. The move follows January's dramatic Chapter 11 filing after a year of ghosting vendors like Chanel and LVMH on payments—hundreds of millions left dangling like a broken designer handbag strap. New CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck assured investors the brand is ‘sharpening its luxury focus,’ which basically means fewer discount stores and lots more soul-searching. All Last Call stores vanish by end of January; 23 Saks Off 5th locations bow out February 2, with closing sales starting January 30–35. Meanwhile, Florida loses a facility and 74 jobs, because nothing says turnaround like layoffs and outlet closures from Honolulu to Houston.