Saks Fifth Avenue is going to be closing 16 of its 18 bridal shops reports Bloomberg. Only the Manhattan and Beverly Hills Saks bridal stores will remain open.
Saks is shutting 16 of its 18 salons, Jessica Gioia, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. The retailer will stop taking orders as soon as the end of this month, Kert Rosenkoetter, vice president and general manager of Saks Fifth Avenue's St. Louis store, wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to customers.
"After much consideration, and only after a thorough analysis of the wedding dress business Saks Fifth Avenue offers, as well as what is offered in the local marketplace, we have decided to discontinue offering a Bridal Salon in most of our stores," Rosenkoetter wrote.
Saks has struggled with declining sales amid the luxury-spending slowdown during the global financial crisis. Revenue dropped 12 percent to $698 million in the latest quarter, and sales at stores open at least a year also declined 12 percent. It posted a net loss of $42.8 million.
The bridal stores will be closing this month. WWD says the closing stores will be running bridal sales in 2009.
The retailer will close bridal salons in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif.; Houston; Atlanta; St. Louis; Tysons Corner, Va.; Richmond; Bal Harbour, Fla.; Birmingham, Ala.; Boca Raton, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Chicago; Indianapolis; Plano, Tex.; San Francisco, Short Hills, N.J., and Dallas. In these markets, there will be a series of bridal sales beginning in January and continuing through May.
Saks must not see the wedding dress business improving much in 2009 if they have decided to shut down sixteen stores.
