The End of Saks As We Knew It

When Saks Fifth Avenue opened, between Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Streets, on September 15, 1924, shoppers in fur coats and pearls mobbed the sales floors. The first package out its doors was a silk top hat, sent to President Calvin Coolidge. The Roaring Twenties had brought sudden prosperity to a nation tired of sacrifice, and wealthy shoppers were ready to spend. Then came the Great Depression. By 1931, Saks was advertising price cuts on its fur coats. The frenzy was over.

Now, some ninety years later, that narrative is repeating itself, but this time the gilded days may be over for good. The Great Recession halted another boom in luxury retail, when chains like Saks were posting double-digit quarterly sales gains. The announcement, on Monday, that the Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay was buying Saks seemed to signal the end of an era.

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