Saks Fifth Avenue shutters downtown NYC retail experiment

Saks Fifth Avenue didn't make it in the downtown NYC shopping scene. The luxury department store plans to close its two-year-old location at Brookfield Place near the World Trade Center.

The Saks womenswear store, which takes up 86 thousand square feet across three levels of store space, is not far from a smaller one-store men's store the retailer had opened around the same time. The men's store will remain in operation.

“This Saks branch location was a test concept where we learned even more about how our women’s customers like to shop in New York City,” a spokeswoman told WWD. “We determined that their preferred format is a combination of our digital channels and our iconic Fifth Avenue flagship.... The decision to close this location was not easy and we intend to transfer as many sales associates to new roles as possible."

Despite the fact that Saks' parent company, Hudson's Bay Company, experienced an overall 2 percent drop in sales during its most recent quarterly report, Saks Fifth Avenue has been doing relatively well. It saw a 6.7 percent increase during the same quarter.

While the department store's downtown NYC experiment didn't work out as expected, Saks has been advancing its brick and mortar offerings elsewhere. Earlier this year, the store debuted a new beauty floor in its Fifth Avenue flagship and opened its third location in Canada.