Saks files for bankruptcy as luxury market struggles

The company that owns the iconic luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue filed for bankruptcy late Tuesday.

The move comes after Saks Global struggled with debt it took on to buy rival Neiman Marcus, lagging department store sales and a rising online market.

It’s one of the largest retail collapses since the Covid pandemic, and casts further doubt over the future of luxury fashion.

The retailer, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman, said early Wednesday its stores would remain open for now after it finalized a $1.75 billion financing package and appointed a new CEO.

The court process is meant to give the luxury retailer room to negotiate a debt restructuring with creditors or sell itself to a new owner to stave off liquidation. Failing that, the company may be forced to shutter.

Former Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck will replace Richard Baker, who was the architect of the acquisition strategy that left Saks Global saddled with debt.

The company also appointed former Neiman Marcus executives Darcy Penick and Lana Todorovich as chief commercial officer and chief of global brand partnerships at Saks Global, respectively.

Saks Fifth Avenue, the retail arm of Saks Global, listed $1 billion to $10 billion in assets and liabilities, according to court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston.

A retailer long loved by the rich and famous, from Gary Cooper to Grace Kelly, Saks fell on hard times after the pandemic, as competition from online outlets rose, and brands started more frequently selling items through their own stores.

The original Saks Fifth Avenue store, known for displaying the likes of Chanel, Cucinelli and Burberry, was opened by retail pioneer Andrew Saks in 1867.

The new financing deal would provide an immediate cash infusion of $1 billion through ‌a loan from an investor group, Saks Global said.

A host of luxury brands were among the unsecured creditors, led by Chanel and Gucci owner Kering at about $136 million and $60 million respectively, the court filing said. The world’s biggest luxury conglomerate, LVMH, was listed as an unsecured creditor at $26 million. In total, Saks Global estimated there were between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors.

In 2024, Baker had masterminded the takeover of Neiman Marcus by Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Co, which had owned Saks since 2013, and later spun off the U.S. luxury assets to create Saks Global, bringing together three names that have defined American high fashion for more than a century.

The deal was designed to create a luxury powerhouse, but it saddled Saks Global with debt at a time when global luxury sales were slowing, complicating an already difficult turnaround for CEO and veteran executive Marc Metrick.

Saks Global struggled last year to pay vendors, who began withholding inventory, disrupting the company’s supply chain and leaving it with insufficient stock.

The thinly stocked shelves may have driven shoppers away to rivals like Bloomingdale’s, which posted strong sales in 2025, compounding pressure on Saks Global.

“Rich people are still buying,” Morningstar analyst David Swartz said last month, “just not so much at Saks.”

Running out of cash, Saks Global last month sold the real estate of the Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills flagship store for an undisclosed amount. It had also been looking to sell a minority stake in exclusive department store Bergdorf Goodman to help cut debt.

On Dec. 30, it failed to make an interest payment of more than $100 million to bondholders.