Saks flagship nearly empty hours before parent filed for bankruptcy

Businessinsider reports that late on Tuesday night Saks Global — the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, and Neiman Marcus — filed for bankruptcy, and a reporter who visited the Saks flagship earlier that day found nearly empty floors, bored sales associates, blacked-out window displays, and steep discounts.

The filing followed more than a year of missed payments to vendors and mounting debt; bankruptcy documents say Saks owes hundreds of millions to creditors, and analysts and fashion insiders have warned of likely store closures and layoffs. The reporter said the store’s 2019 redesign felt sterile, shop-in-shops were mostly quiet with the Chanel boutique busiest, sale racks showed markdowns up to 75%, and Placer.ai estimates showed foot traffic at Saks locations declined nearly every month in 2025 compared with 2024, falling 4% in the most recently available month while Bloomingdale’s fell less than 1%.

Saks declined to comment on the story. After the bankruptcy filing, Gary Wassner, CEO of Hilldun Corp., told the reporter he expected some brands to begin shipping inventory again within two to four weeks and that the shelves could look very different, but the extent of store closures or layoffs remains unclear.

Key Topics

Business, Saks Global, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Gary Wassner