Saks, Inc.

Saks, Inc. was an American department-store holding company created in 1998 when Proffitt's, Inc. acquired Saks Holdings, Inc., the holding company for Saks Fifth Avenue, and changed its legal name. Its business brought together a broad portfolio of regional department-store chains and luxury retail operations. The company grew from Proffitt's, which began with five stores in the Knoxville, Tennessee, metropolitan area and expanded through acquisitions during the 1980s and 1990s. At its height, the company operated distinct business groups. The Saks Department Store Group included Southern and Northern regional chains, while the Specialty Department Store Group included Parisian. Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises brought together Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th; the 1998 acquisition also brought in the Folio mail-order business and Saks.com online retailer. The company’s regional portfolio included names such as McRae's, Proffitt's, Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Herberger's, Younkers, and Parisian. From 2005, Saks, Inc. narrowed its focus toward luxury retailing and sold off much of its regional department-store portfolio. Proffitt's and McRae's stores went to Belk, the Northern Department Store Group went to Bon-Ton Stores, and Parisian was also sold to Belk. The company announced the closure of the Club Libby Lu chain in 2008. It was acquired by Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Company in 2013. Following that acquisition, Hudson's Bay maintained the Saks Fifth Avenue name through its full-line department stores, Saks Off 5th off-price stores, and SaksWorks coworking offering.

Saks, Inc. took its name and corporate form in 1998, but its roots lay in Proffitt's, Inc., which began as five stores in the Knoxville, Tennessee, metropolitan area. Proffitt's became publicly traded on NASDAQ in 1987 under the symbol PRFT and grew by acquiring department-store businesses. In 1989 it purchased 18 Hess's locations across Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia. From 1993 to 1998, it added chains and stores including McRae's, Younkers, Parisian, Herberger's, Carson Pirie Scott, Boston Store, and Bergner's, along with additional locations from other regional retailers that were converted to existing nameplates. After acquiring Parisian, Proffitt's moved its corporate headquarters from Knoxville to Birmingham, Alabama, in October 1997. In September 1998, Proffitt's acquired Saks Holdings, Inc., the holding company for luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, and changed its legal name to Saks, Incorporated. The transaction combined regional department-store operations with Saks Fifth Avenue and Off 5th. The acquired business also included Folio, a mail-order business, and Saks.com, an online retailer. The company organized its operations into the Saks Department Store Group, Specialty Department Store Group, and Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises. The department-store groups included regional chains such as McRae's, Proffitt's, Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Herberger's, Younkers, and Parisian. In 2001, the company reported record revenues of $6.6 billion and was included in the Fortune 500. It moved its headquarters to Midtown Manhattan, New York City, in 2007. A vendor chargeback dispute and a subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission investigation became a major corporate controversy. Saks announced in March 2005 that it would restate financial results from fiscal 1999 through the third quarter of fiscal 2004 to correct accounting errors involving previously recorded operating leases. The SEC settlement followed in 2007; the supplied account says the investigation exposed improper practices involving vendor payments and that executives involved were dismissed. Beginning in 2005, the company pursued a narrower focus on luxury-oriented retailing. It sold its combined 47 Proffitt's and McRae's stores to Belk in July 2005. In October 2005, it announced the sale of 142 Northern Department Store Group locations—including Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner's, Younkers, Herberger's, and Boston Store—to Bon-Ton Stores; the transaction was completed in March 2006. In August 2006, Saks announced the sale of 38 Parisian stores, two regional distribution centers, and its Birmingham headquarters to Belk. The Parisian stores were rebranded under Belk in the third quarter of 2007. In November 2008, Saks announced the closure of the unprofitable Club Libby Lu chain. On July 29, 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buy Saks, Inc. for US$2.4 billion. After the acquisition, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th became affiliated with Hudson's Bay. The supplied account also identifies SaksWorks as an offering through which Hudson's Bay maintained the Saks Fifth Avenue nameplate, alongside its full-line department stores and off-price stores.

• Proffitt's goes public

• Acquisition of Hess's locations

• Headquarters moves to Birmingham

• Saks, Inc. formed

• Record revenues

• Strategic shift and regional store sales

• Northern group and Parisian divestitures

• Headquarters move and SEC settlement

• Club Libby Lu closure announced

• Acquired by Hudson's Bay Company

A multi-banner department-store holding company that shifted from a broad regional department-store portfolio toward luxury-oriented retailing before its 2013 acquisition.

• Saks Fifth Avenue

  Luxury department-store business included in Saks, Inc.'s portfolio.

• Saks Off 5th

  Off-price retail business associated with the Saks Fifth Avenue nameplate.

• Saks.com

  Online retailer brought into the company through the 1998 acquisition.

• Folio

  Mail-order business brought into the company through the 1998 acquisition.

• Regional department-store chains

  The portfolio included brands such as Proffitt's, McRae's, Parisian, Carson Pirie Scott, Boston Store, Bergner's, Herberger's, and Younkers.

• Vendor chargeback investigation

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1. 1Saks, Inc.en.wikipedia.org
2. 2Saks Incorporatedwikidata.org