High-end department store conglomerate Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection late on Tuesday, in one of the largest retail collapses since the pandemic.
It comes barely a year after a deal intended to create a luxury powerhouse brought Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus under the same roof.
The filing cast uncertainty over the future of the iconic U.S. luxury fashion brand, though Saks said early on Wednesday that its stores would remain open for now, after it finalized a $1.75-billion US financing package and appointed a new chief executive.
Long loved by the rich and famous, Saks never fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, as competition from online outlets rose, and brands started selling more items through their own stores. The company struggled last year to pay vendors, who began withholding inventory.
Former Neiman Marcus department store chain CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck will replace Richard Baker, the architect of the acquisition strategy that saddled Saks Global with debt. Baker, the executive chairman, had just stepped into the CEO role at the start of the year.
Saks Global’s assets and liabilities are estimated to be in a range of $1 billion to $10 billion, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas.
People shop the sale rack in the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York City on Sunday. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)
The original Saks Fifth Avenue store, known for carrying exclusive brands like Chanel, Cucinelli and Burberry, as well as for its Christmas light shows, was opened by retail pioneer Andrew Saks in 1867.
The court process is meant to give the luxury retailer room to negotiate a debt restructuring with creditors or find a new owner. Failing that, the company may be forced to shutter. The company, in its filing, said demand is not the problem.
“The company’s challenges are tied to inventory availability and vendor confidence, not underlying demand for luxury goods,” it said in the filing.
Neiman Marcus deal added debt
The Neiman Marcus deal added debt at a time when global luxury sales were slowing.
“In a market where luxury brands are moving direct-to-consumer and shoppers expect personalization and speed, that [merger] was always going to fail,” said Brittain Ladd, a strategy and supply chain consultant at Florida-based Chang Robotics.
Saks Global, which has about 17,000 employees, raised $600 million US and restructured debt in mid-2025 to deal with its financial woes. Persistent missed vendor payments and inventory disruptions left the company with severe liquidity constraints heading into 2026, it said.
Shoppers enter and exit the Neiman Marcus at the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania on Dec. 8, 2018. (Mark Makela/Reuters)
The thinly stocked shelves may have driven shoppers away to rivals like Bloomingdale’s, which reported 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 sold the real estate of the Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills flagship store last month for an undisclosed amount. It had also been looking to sell a minority stake in exclusive department store Bergdorf Goodman to help cut debt.
Financing deal
The new financing deal would provide an immediate cash infusion of $1 billion through a debtor-in-possession loan from an investor group, Saks Global said.
Financing worth $240 million would be available through an asset-backed loan provided by the company’s asset-based lenders, according to the company.
The luxury retailer will have access to $500 million of financing from the investor group once it successfully exits bankruptcy protection, expected later this year, Saks Global said.
Several luxury brands were among the unsecured creditors, led by Chanel, with about $136 million, and Gucci owner Kering with $60 million, 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.
Paris-based Kering, which also owns such brands as Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, declined to comment. Chanel, LVMH and Richemont did not respond to requests for comment.
“For the broader luxury industry, this accelerates an existing trend: brands will reduce reliance on department stores, tighten wholesale exposure and prioritize owned channels and curated partnerships,” Ladd said.
In 2024, Richard Baker 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.
