told The New York Times<\/a> in February after he was ousted as chief executive. \u201cI\u2019m happy to be out of the department store business.\u201d<\/p>\nThe latest revival begins another era for the three businesses, which have withstood the impact of war, recession and pandemic over the last century.<\/p>\n
Saks Fifth Avenue, founded in 1867, opened its famed Manhattan flagship after World War I and helped establish New York as a global fashion capital. Bergdorf Goodman, now in a Beaux-Arts style landmark near Central Park, began as a tailor shop in 1899. Eight years later, the first Neiman Marcus opened in Dallas, providing Texans with oil money a selection of sophisticated clothes and furnishings to spend their cash on.<\/p>\n
Mr. van Raemdonck, 54, who was named chief executive of Saks Global after Mr. Baker\u2019s exit, had formerly run the Neiman Marcus Group.<\/p>\n
He has demanded financial discipline at Exemplar, and he spent recent months cutting out the parts of the business that were not focused on selling luxury goods. The company, for instance, is no longer paying $55 million per year on rent for Lord & Taylor stores that had closed.<\/p>\n
To save on expenses, Exemplar condensed its corporate offices in New York from five floors to one and relocated an expensive photography studio that had a view of the Statue of Liberty. Executives moved those photo facilities to Texas, attached to a much less costly warehouse, where products are easier to obtain for photo shoots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve looked at every contract, at every cost, at every type of brand that we carry, and we\u2019ve doubled down on the part that is profitable and works,\u201d Mr. van Raemdonck said.<\/p>\n
Luxury Only<\/p>\n
Saks Global closed its remaining Neiman Marcus Last Call discount stores and most of its Saks Off 5th locations this year as part of its reorganization. Only a few stores stayed in operation to sell leftover inventory.<\/p>\n
Company executives had been unable to convert discount shoppers from those cheaper stores into full-price customers who buy big-ticket clothes and handbags at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.<\/p>\n
\u201cOff-price was not a profitable business for the company,\u201d Mr. van Raemdonck said. \u201cIt\u2019s a business that requires scale, and it\u2019s a different skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for mall locations, a few remain with both a Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. The company kept those with acceptable performance and low levels of customer overlap. Where one store was significantly weaker than the other, it was shut.<\/p>\n
There are now 49 store locations across the three brands, down from roughly 170 before the bankruptcy filing. Two more will soon close, but Mr. van Raemdonck said there were no additional closing plans.<\/p>\n
Shoppers have demanded better service across the retail industry, so Mr. van Raemdonck said it was essential that Exemplar invest in pampering its customers. The company employs more than 1,500 sales associates who have sold more than $1 million of goods each. <\/p>\n
He said he wanted to expand the retailer\u2019s white-glove services \u2014 offerings that provide bespoke shopping experiences for high-end clients \u2014 by using data and artificial intelligence to help sales associates figure out a customer\u2019s likes and dislikes.<\/p>\n
Exemplar\u2019s vendors, which range from global luxury brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton to emerging designers with small-scale collections, are hopeful that the three department stores can make a comeback.<\/p>\n
A representative for Kering, the Paris-based owner of fashion houses including Gucci and Saint Laurent, said that the restructuring process had been managed well and that it had \u201cmeaningfully strengthened Saks Global at emergence, which we view as important for the long-term health of our shared ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fashion label Altuzarra is watching closely, too. Last year, it halted its shipments to the company because of late payments, but it has since been paid back nearly in full, said Joseph Altuzarra, the designer. He added that department stores still provided some irreplaceable functions, even though his distribution network is diversified through an online shop and independent boutiques.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still do a lot of trunk shows and events,\u201d Mr. Altuzarra said. \u201cThat\u2019s how they discover new brands and new products.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. van Raemdonck said that Exemplar was planning to keep prioritizing and displaying small labels but that there would be fewer brands overall in stores.<\/p>\n
Steven Kolb, the chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, worried that Exemplar might devote too much space to the big brands over the little ones. Department stores, he said, still play a crucial role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lifeline\u201d for those small brands, Mr. Kolb said. \u201cI hope that they continue to invest in younger brands, independent brands. I hope they see the value in that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saks Global, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, formally exited bankruptcy on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18395,67041,28,313072,270095,313075,313071,313073,49484,262949,21,313074],"class_list":["post-728201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bankruptcies","tag-bergdorf-goodman","tag-business","tag-exemplar-luxury-group","tag-fashion-and-apparel","tag-geoffroy","tag-luxury-goods-and-services","tag-neiman-marcus-group","tag-saks-fifth-avenue","tag-shopping-and-retail","tag-united-states","tag-van-raemdonck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}