Saks Stores Will Get Infusion of Cash

Saks Fifth Avenue president Marigay McKee has revealed plans to spend $1.25 billion refurbishing the luxury chain over the next two years.

One-fifth of the capital expenditures will be concentrated on the Manhattan flagship, and much of the rest will go to the most productive of Saks’s 41 locations. According to Bloomberg News, she said the 10 worst-performing stores will be reviewed for possible switching to the Lord & Taylor nameplate or for closure.

Saks and Lord & Taylor became stablemates when Hudson’s Bay Co. Ltd. (Toronto) acquired Saks last year.

McKee said she wants to modernize the chain and go after younger customers without losing Saks’ traditional 48-year-old upscale urban female who identifies with the elegance of the surroundings.

She said she plans particularly to target younger customers in cities populated with university students and young professionals, offering different merchandise to young shoppers in Boston than she does to those in Atlanta. In the more youth-oriented stores, she said she’ll ramp up contemporary fashions and add international designers.