Saks Fifth Avenue
Germany → USA
Retail, Logistics & E-Commerce
Summary
Saks Fifth Avenue traces its lineage to Andrew Saks, born in Baltimore in 1847 to Prussian-Jewish immigrant parents who had arrived in the United States in the 1830s. Andrew opened Saks & Company in Washington, D.C., in 1867, expanded to New York in 1902, and his sons opened the flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store in midtown Manhattan in 1924 — at a time when the avenue was still a residential district. The store transformed Fifth Avenue into a luxury-retail boulevard. Saks is now part of HBC’s Saks Global, which also includes the merged Neiman Marcus.
European Contribution
Prussian-Jewish merchant tradition and the disciplined commercial culture of the German-Jewish immigrant wave to America.
American Impact
Established Fifth Avenue as the American luxury-retail address and defined high-end American department-store culture.
Timeline Highlights
- 1830s Saks family emigrates from Prussia
- 1867 Andrew Saks opens his first store in Washington
- 1902 Saks & Company opens in New York
- 1924 Saks Fifth Avenue flagship opens
- 2013 Acquired by Hudson's Bay Company