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End of an era: Saks Fifth Avenue to close at Beachwood Place

Sam Allard

Saks Fifth Avenue storefront — Saks Fifth Avenue is closing 24 department stores as it restructures. Photo: Jeremy Moeller/GC Images via Getty

Saks Fifth Avenue is closing its Beachwood Place store as part of a nationwide pullback and company-wide restructuring.

Why it matters: Saks has been a retail anchor in the Eastern suburbs since 1978, when Beachwood Place opened with Saks and Higbee's as its flagship department stores.

It was the first Saks Fifth Avenue in Ohio.

Catch up quick: Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

The company's financial challenges underscore how even luxury department stores aren't immune to the sector's long decline.

The latest: Saks recently announced it will shutter 12 Saks and three Neiman Marcus locations on top of nine store closures announced last month.

Both the stores at Beachwood Place and Columbus' Polaris Fashion Place are among those on the chopping block.

Flashback: During the celebratory grand opening of Beachwood Place in 1978, Saks' then-board chairman Allan R. Johnson told the Plain Dealer that the store's "pre-opening shopping and traffic" was the largest the brand had ever experienced.

What's next: The location will remain open through May, per Saks.

For Northeast Ohio shoppers, its closure will mark the end of a nearly five-decade luxury retail era at Beachwood Place.

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End of an era: Saks Fifth Avenue to close at Beachwood Place

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