Saks Global, parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, declares bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I told my readers to "Stay tuned for another tale of the Retail Apocalypse" today and it's a big one. Watch Erik of Retail Archaeology report Saks Fifth Avenue: Luxury Bankruptcy!

In this episode of Retail Archaeology we check out Saks Fifth Avenue and discuss their recent bankruptcy filing.

This ties into three other bankruptcies I've blogged about before, Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor in 2020 and Hudson's Bay Company last year. In fact, the same person who lead Saks Global until it filed for bankruptcy was leading Lord & Taylor then Hudson's Bay Company when they filed for bankruptcy. And, yes, he's the head of a private equity firm — private equity, retail, and restaurants, a bad combination. Add Saks Global to the roster of retail and restaurant chains owned by private equity declaring bankruptcy along with At Home, Hudson's Bay, Hooters.

CNBC has a short explanation of How Saks ran itself into bankruptcy.

Investors have known Saks was struggling for years— it’s now reached its breaking point. Late payments to vendors, a failed turnaround attempt, declining sales and a missed interest payment to bondholders for its Neiman Marcus acquisition ultimately led to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the start of 2026. CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge breaks down how one of America’s most beloved department stores landed itself here. Watch the video to learn more.

Erik concentrated on the vendors and Amazon's objections to the bankruptcy, but glossed over any difficulties in securing debtor in possession financing. CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge made it quite clear obtaining the line of credit was not easy, although it did happen.

For a longer explanation, I turn to Sammi Tannor Cohen, who recorded and uploaded Saks Fell Apart & Vendors Are Owed Millions as an episode of her Social Currency podcast.

Today, Sammi breaks down the unraveling of Saks Fifth Avenue — a luxury icon that survived wars, recessions, and cultural shifts, but couldn’t survive its own merger math. Through stalled vendor payments, junk-bond debt, leadership shake-ups, and a failed $2.7B Neiman Marcus merger, Saks entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy and set off a ripple effect far beyond Fifth Avenue. This isn’t a “department stores are dying” story — it’s a case study in how private equity, financial engineering, and legacy retail models collide. And why the belief that Saks was “too iconic to fail” turned out to be so wrong.

As I wrote about The Bay's failure, "If anything could kill something this venerable, private equity could" and "the owners, responding to incentives that are indifferent to the success of the business, just like they were indifferent to the cultural and historical significance of the company, were most at fault."

I'm glad I found Cohen's channel. I expect to use more of her videos in the future. I also expect to see videos about Saks Global's bankruptcy from Company Man and Bright Sun Films. When they upload them, I'll embed them. In the meantime, stay tuned for a post about the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes won by KPop Demon Hunters.