Saks Global moved to consolidate its business this week, laying off hundreds of workers across its corporate offices, stores and a fulfilment centre in Tennessee, according to various media reports.
The department store group, which closed its acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group in December, will eliminate 3 percent of its total employees, or about 550 roles, Women’s Wear Daily reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the situation. More than half of the layoffs will be in corporate offices in New York, and other locations, according to WWD.
Saks Global is also shutting down a warehouse in Tennessee, where 446 workers will be terminated, according to a state filing last week. A local Nashville news outlet first reported the news last Thursday.
The cuts come at the heels of a previous round of layoffs in February, when the company announced it would reduce corporate roles by 5 percent.
Industry observers anticipated consolidation when the Neiman Marcus merger materialised last summer. At the time, the retailers’ combined real estate portfolio had 11 areas of overlap, including eight malls with both a Saks and a Neiman Marcus store, according to CoStar analysis.
Saks nonetheless faced liquidity issues prior to the $2.7 billion acquisition. Its former sister company, the Hudson’s Bay department store chain in Canada, filed for bankruptcy in early March. Since 2023, Saks vendors have voiced concern over late or withheld payment from the department store. Multiple brands told BoF over the course of two years that they have either reduced their volume of shipments to Saks or stopped working with the retailer altogether.
“All the costs of doing business have gone up,” Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick told The Business of Fashion in February, after sending an incendiary memo to vendors outlining longer payment terms. “The amount of competition has increased, the verticalisation of the brands themselves opening their own stores has increased.”
President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies are causing further strain on Saks’ business. Beyond the consumer pullback that will likely accompany higher cost of goods, Saks’ new investors, namely the holders of a $2.2 billion junk bond that Saks issued to finance its acquisition of Neiman Marcus, are now demanding a 20 percent annual yield on that debt — up from 11 percent in December and on par with consumer credit card interest rates, according to a Puck report.
Metrick told WWD in an interview last week that the company is planning to reduce annual costs by $500 million.
BoF could not reach Saks Global for comment at the time of publication.
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