Downtown Seattle’s Saks OFF 5th will close this month, adding another chunk of empty space to the city’s beleaguered retail core.
The Westlake Center store, a spinoff of Saks Fifth Avenue, posted signs this week that said all sales are final and that July 20 will be the final day.
Camilla Koon, who works downtown, said she was shopping Monday when an employee at the register told her “as of today, all sales are final because the store is closing.”
Saks did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear when employees were notified.
“I go there a couple of times a month and now it’s just another big empty location downtown,” Koon said. “It’s great to have Nordstrom Rack still, but so many other stores are closing.”
Saks’ closure will follow other major retailers, including Nike, The North Face and Vans, that have all pulled out of the area. The North Face and Vans are owned by VF Corp.
Brookfield Properties, which owns Westlake Center, did not respond to a request for comment.
Public safety concerns and sagging retail sales are explanations that have trailed those shuttered stores, but the city has also been grappling with a slow recovery in foot traffic.
Daily office worker foot traffic levels have reached about half of what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Downtown Seattle Association. Tourism fared well in 2023, when Seattle had 3.5 million out-of-town visitors, the most since 2019 when 4.1 million people visited.
But there is still a lack of Seattle-area residents visiting downtown. In December, about 426,000 people who live within 10 miles of the retail core came downtown, according to the DSA. That’s roughly 360,000 fewer people than in December 2019.
It’s not all closures downtown. Japan-based retailer Uniqlo opened on the ground floor of the former Bon Marché/Macy’s building last year, and the outdoor clothing brand Himali opened its first Seattle store near Westlake Center this year.
The parent company of Saks recently signed a deal to buy Neiman Marcus Group for $2.65 billion, with financial help from Amazon, which will hold a minority stake. Neiman Marcus Group owns Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores.
