As New York Yankee legend Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
And so the fight by the city of Dallas to save the downtown Neiman Marcus flagship from closing continues at least for another week.
Just when it appeared that the historic Neiman’s flagship was definitely doomed to close, the city of Dallas and the Dallas Consortium last week reached out to Richard Baker, the executive chairman of Saks Global which owns the Neiman Marcus Group, indicating that it had an “opportunity” to keep the flagship operating, one that Baker should consider.
The consortium wrote that this opportunity would be “financially beneficial to Saks Global, beneficial to the Neiman Marcus brand equity and the continued support, loyalty and goodwill with your Texas clientele, and also creative and doable.” A copy of the letter sent to Baker was received by WWD. It was signed by Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, the Dallas city manager, and consortium members Linda McMahon, CEO, Dallas Economic Development Corp.; Shawn Todd, founder, Todd Interests; and Jennifer Scripps, president and CEO, Downtown Dallas Inc.
It’s not clear exactly what the proposal is, but apparently, it’s of some interest to Saks, otherwise it wouldn’t have agreed to a meeting next week. Neither Saks, nor the Dallas Consortium, which is a group of city officials working to save the flagship, are divulging details of the proposal at this time.
Last month, the consortium reached a deal to transfer some property on the flagship site to the city, thereby ending disagreements between the landlord and Neiman Marcus involving the land lease. Saks Global initially cited the disagreements as cause for shutting down the store, but later acknowledged that the flagship’s business prospects were a factor in closing the store. Saks cited “the slow resurgence of the downtown Dallas area over the last several years” and a preference among customers to shop the Neiman Marcus store in NorthPark Center, which is also in Dallas. Saks says it is planning a $100 million renovation of the NorthPark Dallas store.
“We’ve always been open to speaking with the City Manager of Dallas, and we look forward to doing so next week,” a Saks Global spokesperson told WWD in a statement. “Our plans for the Dallas downtown store have not changed, and we maintain that the media is an unproductive medium for our discussion.”
A source told WWD that a meeting between a team from Saks Global and Dallas representatives will be held at the Neiman Marcus downtown Dallas flagship at 10 a.m. March 24.
Neiman Marcus in downtown Dallas has operated there for more than a century and long served as the headquarters for the luxury retailer. However, many executives on the Neiman’s team began working remotely during the pandemic and continued to do so in subsequent years, including some senior executives working in New York City.
