Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Saks May Go Under

From Lauren Sherman at Forbes:
Saks, (Saks Fifth Avenue) the 110-year-old luxury department store, is in serious danger. The retailer has taken a beating over the last six months, starting with its 70%-off discounts before Thanksgiving, which were meant to stimulate sales but instead muffled them. Then in mid-January the company laid off 1,100 corporate workers. It's the consensus among analysts that Saks will see sales decrease by over 26% in the first quarter of 2009 to $636.57 million.
"I don't know if Saks will get through the year," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of New York-headquartered Davidowitz & Associates, a national retail consultant and investment banking firm. "We know that the [overall] retail business is horrendous, but if you're in the discretionary or luxury space, you're dead in the water."

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