Saks Holdings Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.) said it will close its underperforming 50,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue store in Palm Springs, Calif., this week, reducing to 11 the number of Saks Fifth Avenue stores in California. It will continue to operate the nearby Palm Desert, Calif., store.
However, Saks also announced it is purchasing two former Montgomery Ward locations from the defunct Chicago department store retailer. One store, a 91,400-square-foot space in Apache Mall, Rochester, Minn., will be opened as a Carson Pirie Scott store in fall 2002. The other, a 148,900-square-foot space at Bay Park Square in Ashwaubenon, Wis. (near Green Bay), will be opened under the Younkers name in late 2002 or 2003.
Saks further said it would be eliminating its Folio catalog operations as it seeks to restructure its luxury business, which has seen sales suffer in recent months.
Saks operates about 350 stores in about 40 states, mostly regional chains concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest. There are 40 Parisian specialty stores and 203 traditional department stores under the, Younkers, Carson Pirie Scott, McRae's, Proffitt's, Herberger's, Boston Store and Bergner's nameplates. The Saks Fifth Avenue division, which it bought in 1998, consists of about 60 luxury stores in more than 20 states and 50 Saks Off 5th outlet stores.