What is going to happen to the people who worked at Saks and left to go to Neiman Marcus? Will saks let them go now that saks owns Neiman’s? Some say Saks does not want people working there that once jumped ship from them.
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I am concerned for the future of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman in that Richard Baker has an abysmal track record of brand decline and/or full demise. Just to scratch the surface, under his governorship at HBC, he purchased a multitude of successful retail giants only to damage or downright destroy their foundations in historical proportion. Lord & Taylor: first, selling the landmark flagship store with Dorthy Drapper's metaphoric DNA embedded in the original architecture to Amazon to gut all her former Italian Renaissance Revival-style glory to internally er--t their new sleek, ultra-modern tech hub. Then, to sell off the business inclusive of the less financially hearty buildings to Le Tote who quickly filed for bankruptcy & dissolved the nearly 200-year-old legacy. Galleria Kaufhof: purchased, sold & currently in the process of repurchasing. What is so appealing to him about this European expansion this time that was not there when he let it go the first time? Gilt Groupe: bought while the online treasure was reporting exceeding sales growth only to sell 2 years later with a $63M loss. The coupled sale of Gilt Groupe & Rue La La to Kynetic left one less online, off-price giant out of the competition. But this was seen as strategic to unload a business whose financial plan that was not executed properly at the helm of the HBC Governor…not a monopoly, by FTC standards. HBC Netherlands: abandoning the expansion of the over 400-year-old bygone Canadian clothing/home/fur-trading nameplate mid-planning "due to an ongoing and untenable financial situation". Richard Baker is not focused on the business growth nor the deep historical roots of the retailers. His primary trajectory is the financial worth of the commercial real estate he looks to acquire to build his Empire. He does not value the people within these buildings...these hearts and souls that breathe life into the brick & mortar vessels that allow the life-blood that are its customers the sustenance. They deserve to be greeted with the genuine smiles, the art of fashion & the retail therapy their souls yearn for. Richard Baker lacks all integrity, morality & ethics for the immense history of the retail matriarchs he gobbles up and then discards as if they are grocery store toys you buy for 1 or 2 quarters out of the machines after checkout.
Having worked at both companies (and had the entire level within my division eliminated at Neiman Marcus), Saks Global (AKA HBC and Richard Baker) does not care about the people. He (HBC, aka Baker) only cares about the real estate and what money can be pulled from them. As one of my former co-workers said, "I feel really badly for the Neiman Marcus associates, they have 'no idea' what is about to hit them in the coming months . . . hour cuts, position reductions, consolidation of roles and people, not a lot of heart of compassion."
There may be some truth to this. I heard the same thing from someone high level. In fact, the have compiled of list of people who ‘jumped ship’ in the last five years. Very concerning.
They are a Canadian real estate company that owns “Macy’s like”Hudson Bay and dissolved Barney’s and lord and Taylor . Allegedly looking at the property values of owned buildings . Will probably close some stores - Both Saks and NM. I don’t think they care much about people regardless if they work at saks or neimans .