Saks is back & right on track
OUR Fifth Avenue’s treasured Saks Fifth reopened today.
President Marc Metrick, who’s been there forever and probably sold Hiawatha his first tux: “We’ve opened 33 of our 43 stores. But this one, our flagship, gets us excited.
“We’ve stocked 5,000 masks for our associates. Besides instituting 100 hand sanitizer stations, sanitizing escalator handrails continually and ultraviolet light disinfecting elevators, every customer will be handed a mask and hand cleanser upon arrival. We’ll also provide receptacles at the exit for any that might get discarded.
“Space was allocated for returns, which then become unavailable for 24 hours, during which they’re re-cleaned and quarantined. See, we’ve been operating all along on a curbside basis. Besides SaksFifth.com, the store itself maintained same-day delivery service to the Hamptons. We have a great relationship with our customers. Just call your associate, and they put whatever you want in your cart and it arrives that very day.”
(Minus a personal “associate,” us peons may stay in our pj’s.)
“We, the first flagship to close, were prepared. We closed Friday before the shutdown. Look, I’ve experienced things before. When we were attacked 9/11, I thought nothing could be worse. Then came the ’08 fiRetailers nancial crisis. need to be flexible and agile. The unknown is what we must know. “Spas, cosmetics, makeup treatments are temporarily suspended. Salespeople demonstrate on their own faces. “We closed in March but had already received summer shipments so our merchandise is all new, timely and business as usual.”
How about markdowns? Sales? “Not yet.”