Saks Off 5th will soon be off the map in the Bronx. Hudson's Bay, the parent company for the retail chain known for carrying designer brands, announced it will close the Baychester store at the end of October, just two years after it opened.
Some shoppers said they saw it coming. "I don't think it was the competition. I just think it was the pricing," one said. "I understand they're trying to, I don't know, gentrify it or something, like the area, but we didn't need this. There was no reason for it whatsoever."
A company spokesman told NY1 that after reviewing the performance of more than 100 stores, it is closing 20 of them. Hudson's Bay originally signed a 10-year lease for the Bay Plaza Shopping Center location.
"Brooklyn, there's a huge following there," Bronx-based artist Brunilda Pichardo said. "There are many studios, a lot of places that are dedicated to artists. The Bronx doesn't have that."
Pichardo is proposing that the site be used for an art supply or music store. She said the sprawling space — about 25,000-square-feet — is already surrounded by dozens of apparel shops, and it would be nice to buy her acrylic paints and canvases closer to home.
"I've had a few jobs in the city, so I'm familiar with those spots over there. But the travel to go all the way over there, and, I mean, even Michael's on 161st Street, it's not that accessible," Pichardo said.
Saks Off 5th isn't the first retailer to have to call it quits in the area. The space was previously occupied by the borough's only Barnes & Noble, which closed down in 2016, causing outrage from residents. At the time, it was the only bookstore in the Bronx.
Several music stores in the borough have suffered the same fate. That's why some artists and art-lovers are signing a petition, urging the building's owner, Prestige Properties, to consider a creative brand for Saks's replacement. NY1 did not hear back from Prestige after we called.
"We have hardly any art supply stores, we have hardly any retail spaces that are dedicated to creativity … to motivating the imagination of Bronxites," community advocate Raph Schweizer said. "That's what this is about."
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