Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus Closing Stores in 9 States After Bankruptcy

Is This the End of Luxury Department Stores As We Know Them?

Saks Global, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman, is closing 8 Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 1 Neiman Marcus location as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. The closures, announced on February 10, will affect stores in 9 states and eliminate hundreds of retail jobs by the end of April.

This is just the latest wave. Weeks earlier, the company revealed it would shutter 45 of its 57 Saks Off 5th discount stores and liquidate the Off 5th e-commerce business entirely. Taken together, the cuts represent the most dramatic contraction of a luxury retail empire in American history -- and a cautionary tale about what happens when a debt-fueled acquisition goes wrong at exactly the wrong time.

Which Stores Are Closing?

The 8 Saks Fifth Avenue locations marked for closure are spread across the country:

• The Summit in Birmingham, Alabama
• Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, Ohio
• American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Shops at Canal Place in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Bala Plaza outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, Arizona
• Stony Point Fashion Park in Richmond, Virginia
• Utica Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Additionally, the Neiman Marcus store in Boston, Massachusetts, will close. All 9 locations are expected to remain open until approximately April 30, 2026, giving employees and shoppers roughly 10 weeks of notice.

After the closures, Saks Global will operate 25 Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 35 Neiman Marcus stores nationwide. The company also still owns Bergdorf Goodman's flagship location on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which is not part of the closure plans.

On the discount side, the damage is even more severe. The company is closing 45 of 57 Saks Off 5th stores, leaving only 12 locations standing. The Off 5th e-commerce operation, branded separately as Saks Off 5th Digital, began liquidating all merchandise on January 26. All five remaining Neiman Marcus Last Call outlet stores will also close.

How Did Saks Get Here?

The collapse traces directly back to one deal: Hudson's Bay Company's approximately $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group, which closed in December 2024. The merger was supposed to create a luxury retail powerhouse that could compete with online platforms and European luxury conglomerates like LVMH and Kering.

Instead, it created a debt bomb. Combined, the merged entity accumulated $4.7 billion in total debt by mid-2025. The chief restructuring officer later wrote that the deal led to "immediate liquidity challenges" and created an "unsustainable" capital structure.

The mechanics of the failure were grimly straightforward. Once the transaction closed and both companies paid debts related to the agreement, there was not enough cash left to pay vendors on time. With bills running late, vendors became less willing to ship inventory to Saks stores. With less inventory on the sales floor, customer traffic and sales declined. The spiral accelerated through 2025.

Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 14, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, listing $3.4 billion in debts. The filing came after the company missed a $100 million interest payment in December 2025.

To keep the lights on during restructuring, Saks Global secured a financing commitment of approximately $1.75 billion from senior secured bondholders and asset-based lenders.

How Many Jobs Are at Risk?

Saks Global has not disclosed specific workforce numbers tied to the store closures, but the math is not hard to estimate. A typical full-line Saks Fifth Avenue store employs between 100 and 200 people, including sales associates, managers, stock room staff, and support personnel. The Neiman Marcus Boston location is similar in scale.

Across the 9 full-line store closures, an estimated 900 to 1,800 positions are directly at risk. The 45 Saks Off 5th store closures add to that figure, though discount stores typically operate with leaner staffing of 30 to 60 employees each. That suggests another 1,350 to 2,700 positions affected.

Combined, the total job impact across all announced closures could range from 2,250 to 4,500 workers. Some may be offered transfers to surviving locations, but given the geographic spread of the closures and the fact that the company is actively shrinking, the realistic number of employees who will lose their jobs is likely in the thousands.

The Off 5th e-commerce liquidation also eliminates an unknown number of warehouse, fulfillment, and digital marketing positions tied to the online operation.

What Does This Mean for the Luxury Retail Industry?

Saks Global's bankruptcy is the most visible symptom of a broader realignment in luxury retail. The traditional department store model -- large physical footprints, high overhead costs, and broad merchandise assortments -- is under pressure from multiple directions.

Online luxury platforms like Farfetch, Mytheresa, and The RealReal have captured a growing share of high-end fashion spending. Direct-to-consumer brands are bypassing department stores entirely. And the very wealthiest consumers increasingly shop at brand-owned flagship stores in New York, Paris, and London rather than multi-brand department stores in suburban malls.

The competitive landscape has been especially brutal at the discount end of the luxury market. Saks Off 5th competed not only with Nordstrom Rack and T.J. Maxx but also with the explosion of online resale platforms. Consumers who once hunted for deals at outlet stores now scroll through Poshmark and Vestiaire Collective without leaving their homes.

The Neiman Marcus half of the merger brought its own baggage. The chain had already filed for Chapter 11 once before, in May 2020, and emerged with a restructured balance sheet. But that restructuring was designed for a standalone company, not one that would immediately be loaded with billions in acquisition debt.

For the remaining 25 Saks Fifth Avenue and 35 Neiman Marcus stores, the question is whether a leaner footprint can generate enough revenue to service the restructured debt and attract new investors. Bergdorf Goodman, the crown jewel of the portfolio, may ultimately be the most valuable asset -- its Fifth Avenue location and brand cachet are difficult to replicate.

What Comes Next for Saks and Its Workers?

The Chapter 11 process gives Saks Global time to reorganize while shielding it from creditor lawsuits and vendor demands. But time is not unlimited. The company needs to either find a buyer, attract new investment, or demonstrate a viable standalone business plan within the next 12 to 18 months.

Several potential outcomes are in play. The company could emerge from bankruptcy as a smaller, more focused operation centered on its strongest Saks and Neiman Marcus locations. It could sell Bergdorf Goodman separately to a luxury conglomerate. Or it could be acquired wholesale by a private equity firm willing to bet on a turnaround.

For employees, the uncertainty is agonizing. Workers at stores not on the closure list still face the possibility of additional rounds of cuts, reduced hours, and operational changes as the bankruptcy progresses. Those at closing stores have until April 30 to find new positions, either within the company or elsewhere.

The retail job market offers mixed signals. While luxury retail is contracting, the broader retail sector added jobs in late 2025, and companies like Costco, Walmart, and Amazon continue to hire at scale. The skills that make someone effective in luxury retail -- customer service, visual merchandising, inventory management, brand storytelling -- are transferable, though the compensation and work environment at discount or mass-market retailers can feel like a significant step down.

For the communities losing Saks or Neiman Marcus stores, the closures ripple outward. Luxury department stores serve as anchor tenants for high-end shopping centers, and their departure can trigger a chain reaction of reduced foot traffic, lower rents, and additional store closures in the surrounding complex. The malls in Columbus, Phoenix, and Birmingham are likely to feel that impact most acutely.

The broader lesson of Saks Global's collapse is one that private equity and retail executives have been slow to learn: debt-fueled consolidation in a structurally declining retail segment is extraordinarily risky. The Neiman Marcus acquisition was supposed to create strength through scale. Instead, it created fragility through leverage -- and thousands of workers are paying the price.

For retail employees caught in the crossfire, options exist but require quick action. Nordstrom, which has been investing in its full-line and off-price stores, has signaled plans to hire in several of the same metro areas where Saks locations are closing. Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Tiffany operate their own retail stores and frequently recruit from department store talent pools. Online luxury platforms, including The RealReal and Mytheresa, have expanded their customer service and operations teams as their order volumes grow.

Workers with experience in luxury clienteling -- the art of building long-term relationships with high-net-worth customers -- carry particularly transferable skills. Wealth management firms, high-end real estate brokerages, and premium hospitality brands all value the ability to deliver personalized service to demanding clients. The skill set that makes someone an excellent Saks sales associate does not disappear just because the store does.

The Saks bankruptcy also raises questions about the future of anchor tenants in American malls. Shopping centers that lose a Saks or Neiman Marcus often struggle to fill the vacancy with a comparable draw. In some cases, mall operators have converted former department store spaces into mixed-use developments combining residential, office, and entertainment uses. For the communities in Columbus, Phoenix, Birmingham, and elsewhere that are losing their Saks stores, the ripple effects on local employment and commercial real estate could persist for years.

People Also Asked

Q: How many Saks Fifth Avenue stores are closing in 2026? A: Saks Global is closing 8 Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 1 Neiman Marcus location across 9 states, with all closures expected by April 30, 2026. The affected cities include Birmingham, Columbus, East Rutherford, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Richmond, Tulsa, and Boston. After the closures, 25 Saks Fifth Avenue and 35 Neiman Marcus stores will remain open.

Q: Why did Saks Global file for bankruptcy? A: Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 on January 14, 2026, primarily due to the $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus in December 2024, which created an unsustainable $4.7 billion debt load. The company could not pay vendors on time, leading to inventory shortages and declining sales. The filing was triggered after Saks missed a $100 million interest payment in December 2025.

Q: Are Saks Off 5th stores closing too? A: Yes. Saks Global is closing 45 of its 57 Saks Off 5th locations, leaving only 12 stores open. The Off 5th e-commerce business is being completely liquidated, with the process beginning on January 26, 2026. All 5 remaining Neiman Marcus Last Call outlet stores will also close as part of the bankruptcy restructuring.

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