For the last twenty years, Saks Fifth Avenue has gifted New Yorkers and visiting guests with a dazzling holiday light show on its flagship’s façade above its iconic holiday window displays.
However, this year, though the window displays will remain, the light show is gone, replaced by more subtle lights framing the building’s façade to “honor the architectural significance” of the building, a Saks spokesperson shared with me.
It’s not a good look for Saks on its 100th anniversary. It should be going all out to celebrate its centenary in a year that CEO Marc Metrick disclosed has been “softer” than expected. Instead, it’s going “quiet luxury.”
The decision is even more foolish because 2024 marks the official 200th anniversary of NYC’s Fifth Avenue corridor. How often do the stars align for the possibility of a monumental double-milestone celebration? Once in a hundred years.
It is a decision that Saks will regret. While it bows out, Saks is letting luxury retail competitors up and down the Avenue and across 57th Street shine even brighter for holiday 2024.
This year, the Fifth Avenue Association will once again light its giant 30-foot snowflake across Fifth Avenue and 57th Street on November 22. It will be a beacon drawing folks from Saks at 50th.
Madelyn Wils, interim president of the Fifth Avenue Association, assures me this will be the most spectacular holiday celebration ever.
“All eyes will be on 57th,” she said. “Saks does beautiful windows and you still have the Rockefeller Center Tree. But a lot of stores are stepping up their game this holiday, so there’ll be a lot of spectacular things to see and do. Nobody will be disappointed.”
Saks Gives New York City A Lump Of Coal
The news that Saks had turned off its light show set up a firestorm of negative press coverage and social media comments. Canceling a twenty-year tradition is not something a retailer of Saks’ status should do so lightly.
Sharing that the decision was made during the summer, Metrick said, “Some of the press has gotten away. We always knew we were going to want to take a step back and assess lighting the store,” adding that the company has to be “very prudent and very careful on where we’re investing.”
Yet the company could have softened the media blowback in its October 15 press release when it announced that Saks would have an “illuminated display on the façade,” which pretty much describes what the light show was.
It also stated that Mastercard “presents” Saks holiday window and light displays, so Mastercard must also be watching its pennies this season. Mastercard did not answer my request for comment.
Posting on LinkedIn, The Robin Report’s Warren Shoulberg said the Saks light show is up there with other much loved and anticipated New York City holiday traditions, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the Rockefeller Center Tree lighting and the 57th Street snowflake.
“This is a colossal miss,” he commented, adding that Richard Baker, who operates Saks as part of his private Hudson Bay Company (HBC), “might as well stand on the corner of 50th Street and hand out lumps of coal.”
The cancelation decision, widely attributed to cost-cutting measures, shines even more light on recent bad HBC financial decisions. In July, HBC announced the $2.65 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group (NMG), including Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
Until the deal closes with no date yet fixed, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman will continue to operate separately. At least Bergdorf will benefit from holiday foot traffic moving up to 57th Street.
While HBC is paying big for NMG, reports abound that Saks is holding off payments to its vendors with “hundreds of thousands of dollars” owed, according to PYMNTS.
Empty-handed Greats sneaker brand owner Ryan Babezien said, “What I don’t understand is how you can get someone to give you a couple of billion dollars to buy Neiman Marcus when you can’t even cough up $15,000 to pay your vendors.”
Shoulberg admitted that he’s no fan of HBC Baker’s leadership and in canceling the light show, “He’s taken his leadership to a new low this year,” he wrote.
“While it might look good on a P&L, it will look terrible on Fifth Avenue for all the disappointed viewers — and Saks shoppers.”
Fifth Avenue And 57th Street Will Still Shine
Despite Saks turning down the lights, the Fifth Avenue Association has plenty planned to liven up the holiday 2024 celebrations. It will officially kick-off on December 8 with a Fifth Avenue 200th birthday party.
The Avenue between 48th and 55th Streets will be closed to traffic from noon to 6 p.m. to allow pedestrians to enjoy live music performances, art installations, exclusive shopping and food popups from Fifth’s retailers, hotels and restaurants. The Avenue will also feature a red carpet, personalized fashion sketches and a ceremonial cake cutting.
Birthday celebrants include Assouline, Canada Goose, Citizen, Coach, Nike, Puma, Swarovski, Tag Heuer, Tiffany & Co, among others. The Julliard Jazz Duke Ellington Ensemble, Sing Harlem, The Satin Dolls, Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra, Brass Queens and the New York Belles will perform.
Throughout the season, holiday trees will line the sidewalk from 47th to 59th Street, culminating in a photo arch at the 59th Street Apple Store. And Nest New York will scent the scene with its exclusive “Holiday” fragrance.
Then a full-year of 200th anniversary activities will follow, including historical tours and on-street displays.
“We plan a ‘Gilded Age’ tour next year to coincide with the third season of HBO’s Gilded Age series,” Wils shared. “The Fifth Avenue Association was created by the Vanderbilt’s, Carnegie’s and Aster’s after all.”
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