Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus owner files for bankruptcy; Long Island stores stay open — for now

Saks Global, one of the most recognizable names in luxury retail, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday in the Southern District of Texas.

The New York City-based company owns Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks OFF 5TH, Last Call and Horchow. It sought court protection after securing $1.75 billion in financing commitments.

"By strategically optimizing our footprint and sharpening our focus on luxury retail, we will be well-positioned to uphold our iconic legacy," the company said in an emailed statement to Newsday Wednesday.

The privately held company has struggled under debt tied to its $2.65 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus last year and saw CEO Marc Metrick step down earlier this month. 

During the second quarter of last year, revenue for privately owned Saks Global was down, at $1.6 billion, a 13% decline from the same quarter in 2024, according to Retail Dive. 

Saks said its stores — including Saks Fifth Avenue in Huntington Station and Neiman Marcus in Uniondale — will remain open during the restructuring. The company also has three Saks OFF 5TH stores on Long Island in Westbury Plaza in Garden City, Tanger Outlets Deer Park and Tanger Outlets Riverhead.

The company said it does not anticipate disruptions to operations and expects to continue honoring customer programs while paying employees and suppliers, The Associated Press reported. Saks Global said it has $1.5 billion in financing commitments from an "ad hoc group" of senior bondholders and roughly $240 million of liquidity from the company's asset-based lenders. 

But while there are no closures announced for now, the company said it is “evaluating its operational footprint to invest resources where it has the greatest long-term potential.”

Saks also named Geoffroy van Raemdonck, former CEO of the Neiman Marcus Group, as its new chief executive, effective immediately.

Historic Canadian corporation the Hudson's Bay Company bought Saks in 2013 for $2.9 billion, before later spinning the company into its own unit, Saks Global, in 2024, according to Investopedia.

The challenges that led to bankruptcy have been well-known for some time, retail analysts said.

"The debt-fueled acquisition of Neiman Marcus always made bankruptcy a likely destination for Saks Global," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, a retail analysis firm based in Manhattan, said in an email. "The only real surprise has been the speed of the collapse, which has come barely a year after the deal closed."

Saunders said the luxury retail company put itself in a "financially precarious" position with its debt load, which hurt day-to-day operations, led to some suppliers going unpaid and created gaps in inventory that pushed customers away.

Luxury brands overall have been negatively impacted by consumers cutting back on some purchases and becoming "more conservative about buying expensive goods." Though Saunders emphasized that Saks' use of debt, and not consumer trends, is what led to its financial woes.

Some customers suggested e-commerce was a factor in the bankruptcy. 

“There’s too many people online shopping,” said Denise Cariero, who was visiting Roosevelt Field’s Neiman Marcus store Wednesday afternoon.

Cariero, who went to the two-story luxury store to return an item she bought online, said she’s not really a big shopper at either Saks or Neiman and is more of an online deal hunter.

Cariero said Wednesday's news was reminiscent of when Lord & Taylor closed its doors for good in 2020.

Lord & Taylor, the nation’s oldest department store chain at the time, and its parent company, Le Tote Inc., both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2020, citing the pandemic as a reason. Later that month, the chain announced the planned closure of its four Long Island stores.