NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Saks Fifth Avenue is proud to announce the opening of its first downtown store, an 86,000-square-foot location anchoring the southern end of Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan. Saks Downtown will house women’s categories with a strong focus on emerging and advanced designers, including exclusive brands and special capsule collections in celebration of the launch.
“Saks Fifth Avenue is transforming, and with Saks Downtown we further cement our brand as the destination for style and luxury in New York City,” said Marc Metrick, president, Saks Fifth Avenue. “Saks Downtown may be our second store in NYC, but it is the first of its kind. The design is open, the edit is unique, and it’s quite simply fun to shop.”
Saks Downtown will feature a focused matrix of designers merchandised in a true ‘lifestyle edit’ reflecting how the modern woman shops. Designer RTW, handbags, and fine jewelry will appear side-by-side on Level One. Apothecary and fragrance brands have their own destination nearby. On Level Two, customers will find contemporary and advanced designer brands, fashion jewelry, as well as a 70-foot-long mirrored sunglasses display leading them to the covetable shoe department. Level Three hosts a reimagined Fifth Avenue Club for private styling consultations.
The understated palette, featuring rose gold and brass fixtures throughout, unites the many brands while keeping with the luxurious and timeless style Saks is known for. The centerpiece of the store, designed in partnership with Found Associates, is a stepped amphitheater, dubbed “The Stadium”, rising vertically between the first and second floors. Designer installations will rotate in and out of the space. Vetements partnered with Saks to create the first installation, highlighting its fall collection.
London-based Artist Barry Reigate was commissioned to create a 220-foot-long by 12-foot-high mural running the full length of the shoes and sunglasses departments on Level Two. The graphic design is composed of interconnecting freestyle lines that play off the clean, crisp lines of the overall store design.
“Saks Downtown marks a new vision for the brand. The focus is on our edit, bringing new depth to our emerging and advanced designer assortment,” stated Tracy Margolies, Chief Merchant, Saks Fifth Avenue. “Saks Downtown will carry more than 200 brands and 100 exclusive styles unique to our store. To celebrate the opening, we partnered with some of our favorite local brands, including Public School, Opening Ceremony, Rag & Bone, and Jonathan Simkhai, to develop exclusive New York-themed pieces.”
The enhanced Fifth Avenue Club boasts five private rooms and two VIP suites where expert stylists can provide the renowned Saks styling experience. The Club is also offering a new experience, customized for the downtown shopper, called the “Power Lunch” that provides customers with a style consultation and express beauty treatment in 60 minutes, with lunch served as well. The new Saks Save Me hotline (646-344-6400 or sakssaveme@s5a.com) helps customers with quick solutions to fashion emergencies like a broken heel or ripped seam. The Saks At Your Service Mercedes-Benz sprinter, the ultimate personal shopping experience that brings the best of Saks to the home, hotel or office, now also serves downtown.
Saks Downtown is the first of several planned new stores and renovations in the New York metro area in the coming years, including a dedicated Saks Downtown men’s store (Spring 2017); The Grand Renovation at the flagship Fifth Avenue store (2016-2019); three new The Saks Shops at Greenwich stand-alone store openings, including 10022-SHOE (Oct. 20), The Collective (Feb. 2017), and The Vault (May 2017); the renovation of Saks Walt Whitman Shops on Long Island (Oct. 20); and a new location in New Jersey’s American Dream (2018).
The store is located at 225 Liberty Street, and is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saks will make a donation equal to 10% of Saks Downtown’s opening weekend (Sept 9 through Sept 11) net proceeds from merchandise sales, up to $50,000, to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Ryan Williams, a 15-year veteran of the luxury retail space, was named Vice President and General Manager of Saks Downtown last February. Guests are welcome to check out the Saks Downtown Store and Events page on saks.com to learn more.
ABOUT SAKS FIFTH AVENUE (@saks)
Saks Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s pre-eminent specialty retailers, is renowned for its superlative American and international designer collections, its expertly edited assortment of handbags, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and gifts, and the first-rate fashion expertise and exemplary client service of its Associates. As part of the Hudson’s Bay Company brand portfolio, Saks operates 41 full-line stores in 22 states, plus Puerto Rico and Canada; five international licensed stores; and saks.com, the company’s online store. For more information, visit saks.com, Facebook.com/saks, Instagram.com/saks, Twitter.com/saks, Pinterest.com/saks, and Snapchat.com/saks_official.
ABOUT HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY
Hudson’s Bay Company is one of the fastest-growing department store retailers in the world, based on its successful formula of driving the performance of high quality stores and their all-channel offerings, unlocking the value of real estate holdings and growing through acquisitions. Founded in 1670, HBC is the oldest company in North America. HBC’s portfolio today includes ten banners, in formats ranging from luxury to better department stores to off price fashion shopping destinations, with more than 460 stores and 66,000 employees around the world.
In North America, HBC’s leading banners include Hudson’s Bay, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Gilt, and Saks OFF 5TH, along with Find @ Lord & Taylor and Home Outfitters. In Europe, its banners include GALERIA Kaufhof, the largest department store group in Germany, Belgium’s only department store group Galeria INNO, as well as Sportarena.
HBC has significant investments in real estate joint ventures. It has partnered with Simon Property Group Inc. in the HBS Global Properties Joint Venture, which owns properties in the United States and Germany. In Canada, it has partnered with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust in the RioCan-HBC Joint Venture.
