Saks, Inc.

Saks, Inc. began as a chain of five Proffitt's stores in the Knoxville, Tennessee, metropolitan area. In 1987, Proffitt's Inc. became a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol PRFT. Following its initial public offering, the company grew by acquiring several department store chains. It purchased 18 Hess's locations in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia in 1989. From 1993 to 1998, the company acquired McRae's, Younkers, Parisian, Herberger's, Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner's, and the Wisconsin-based Boston Store chain. It also bought additional locations from Loveman's, Parks-Belk, and Brody's, converting them into its existing store brands.

After acquiring Parisian, Proffitt's relocated its corporate headquarters from Knoxville to Birmingham, Alabama, in October 1997. Although Saks no longer operates a retail store in Mississippi, the company still runs its data services from the former McRae's headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi.

1998 acquisition of Saks Holdings

In September 1998, the company acquired Saks Holdings, Inc., and subsequently changed its legal name to Saks, Incorporated. The acquisition included the Saks Fifth Avenue and Off 5th franchises, the Folio mail-order business, and the e-commerce site Saks.com.

Following the acquisition, the Saks Fifth Avenue properties formed the Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises division, while the Birmingham-based department store division became the Saks Department Store Group. This main-line department store group was organized into three segments: the Southern Department Store Group, which included McRae's and Proffitt's; the Northern Department Store Group, which included Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Herberger's, and Younkers; and the company's Specialty Department Store Group, Parisian.

In 2001, the company recorded annual revenues of $6.6 billion, placing it on the Fortune 500 list as one of the largest department store operators in the United States. The company was also a primary sponsor of the Bruno's Memorial Classic golf tournament, later known as the Regions Charity Classic. In 2007, the company moved its headquarters to Midtown Manhattan.^[3]

In 2005, vendors filed complaints against Saks alleging unlawful chargebacks. Following a multi-year investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exposed illicit tactics that allowed Saks to withhold money owed to clothing manufacturers. These actions inflated Saks' annual earnings by up to 43% and resulted in the improper collection of approximately $30 million from suppliers over seven years.^[4] Saks settled with the SEC in 2007 after terminating at least three executives involved in the fraudulent activities.^[5][4] In March 2005, Saks announced it would restate its financial results from fiscal 1999 through the third quarter of fiscal 2004 to correct accounting errors related to its operating leases.^[6]

By 2005, Saks Incorporated shifted its focus toward the luxury retail market associated with its Saks Fifth Avenue stores. This led to the July 2005 sale of its 47 Proffitt's and McRae's stores to Belk for approximately $622 million.

On October 31 of that same year, Saks announced the sale of the 142 stores within its Northern Department Store Group, including Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner's, Younkers, Herberger's, and Boston Store, to Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. for $1.1 billion. The transaction was completed on March 6, 2006.^[7]

On August 2, 2006, Saks Incorporated agreed to sell its 38 Parisian stores, two regional distribution centers, and its Birmingham corporate headquarters to Belk. Belk rebranded the locations under its own name in the third quarter of 2007.

On November 5, 2008, Saks announced the closure of the unprofitable Club Libby Lu chain.^[8]

2013 acquisition by Hudson's Bay Company

On July 29, 2013, the Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Company announced its acquisition of Saks, Inc. for $2.4 billion.^[9] Through this transaction, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th became affiliated with Hudson's Bay, Home Outfitters, and Lord & Taylor.