Saks, Saks Off 5th, and The Bay will lay off staff only two years after HBC separated the online operations of the three companies from their physical stores.
The Bay will lay off 2% of its staff, while Saks will lay off 3.5%.
- HBC separated the stores in 2021, thinking a tech-oriented online pure-play would attract investment and talent more easily.
- During that same year, Insight Partners invested $500M into Saks and $200M into Saks Off 5th.
- Macy's and Kohl's considered doing a similar separation. Macy's even hired Alix Partners to explore the possibility, but neither retailer ended up doing it.
- The layoffs respond to higher shipping costs and customers increasingly returning to physical stores.
