Window closing
Iconic Lord & Taylor ends long NYC run
Lord & Taylor’s long goodbye to Fifth Avenue is about to begin — and it may include some nice deals on cashmere sweaters and designer handbags.
The upscale retailer’s 104year-old flagship store at 424 Fifth Ave. — New York City’s oldest — is set to launch a final “store closing” sale on Thursday that will hawk deals on fashions and accessories throughout the holidays before the store shuts down for good.
The grand dame of Big Apple department stores, with its six huge sidewalk windows between 38th and 39th streets, had been perennially decked out during the Christmas season with spectacular displays for shoppers and tourists.
This year, the storefront will be limited to just two holiday-decorated windows. They will celebrate the Lord & Taylor brand and say “Thank You” to New York for the decades of loyal business, the company said.
In an unusual move, Lord & Taylor’s Canada-based owner Hudson’s Bay Co., which also owns Saks Fifth Avenue, is keeping Lord & Taylor’s 45 other locations open, even as it closes the historic flagship.
“The significance of this location is not lost on me,” Lord & Taylor President Vanessa LeFebvre told The Post. “But we have 45 other stores that will be with us in the new year.”
LeFebvre, hired in May to turn around the chain’s flagging sales, pointed to the growing number of Lord & Taylor customers — up to 40 percent of its base — who are also shopping on the company’s Web site.
Hudson’s Bay sold the 11story flagship building to WeWork, the shared work space giant, in 2017 for $854 million.
WeWork planned to use the upper floors — keeping Lord & Taylor in the lower floors — but the plans changed and it will now occupy the entire building. lfickenscher@nypost.com