How Saks Fifth Avenue Will Take a Stand in Menswear With Downtown Store

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Slowly but surely more details are trickling out about Saks Fifth Avenue's concept shop expansion downtown. Now we know more about its latest commitment: a men's-only shop at Brookfield Place, not to be confused with the 85,000-square foot Saks Fifth Avenue that will anchor the shopping complex when it opens in June 2016.

The men's offering, according to Saks president Marc Metrick, wasn't being positioned the right way in the new full-line store, so the company decided "to make a stand in the men's business" and allow the department to have its own store. "It used to be that [men] wore a suit during the week and then there was a weekend uniform," Metrick told WWD of the decision. "Now, they are more interested in dressing and we need an environment that respects the evolution of that customer."

When the 250 Vesey Street outpost opens in spring 2017, it will do so with a design that "stresses experimental shopping," like made-to-measure and bespoke services, the paper also noted.

The men's store is just one part of Saks' massive expansion plan. Currently in the works are the brand's first-ever shoe store in Greenwich, Connecticut, two new Saks Off Fifth locations, and the Fifth Avenue flagship's renovations.