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In the wake of a January Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from Saks Global, owner of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer has begun to close a number of stores across its portfolio of brands. Last month, for instance, the company announced the shuttering of many of its outlet stores. But now, the Saks Global has announced the closure of some of its high-end department stores, for which the company is famous. Heres what you need to know. Whats happened? According to a court document filed this week with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Saks Global has decided to close nine of its luxury department stores. These announced closures come just weeks after the company announced it was shuttering many of its outlet stores, including many Last Call and Saks Off 5th locations. The reason Saks Global has given for the shuttering of some of its flagship department stores is that the store closures will allow the companys global debtors to better serve their luxury customers, strengthen brand partner relationships and drive full-price selling to enable sustainable, profitable growth. When are the department stores closing? According to court documents, the department stores marked for closure will close their doors for good on approximately April 30, 2026, less than three months from now. The company expects the store closing sales at the affected locations to begin around February 20. The store closures are subject to approval from the judge presiding over the bankruptcy case. A ruling is expected to be made on Friday. After the closure of these locations, Saks Global will have 35 Neiman Marcus stores and 25 Saks Fifth Avenue stores in operation. Which Neiman Marcus stores are closing? According to the court documents, only one Neiman Marcus store is closing: Massachusetts: 5 Copley Place, Boston, MA Which Saks Fifth Avenue stores are closing? Unfortunately, Saks Global has decided to close significantly more Saks Fifth Avenue stores. The list includes eight locations in eight different states: Alabama: 129 Summit Blvd, Birmingham, AL Arizona: 2446 East Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ Louisiana: 301 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA New Jersey: Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, NJ Oklahoma: 1780 Utica Square, Tulsa, OK Ohio: 1350 Polaris Pkwy, Columbus, OH Pennsylvania: 2 Bala Plaza Bala, Cynwyd, PA Virginia: 9214 Stony Point Parkway, Richmond, VA Why is Saks Global filing for bankruptcy? As Fast Company previously reported, the luxury department store owner has faced extreme financial difficulty in recent years. Like many brick-and-mortar retailers, the companys stores have seen declining foot traffic, especially after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, inflationary costs, tariffs, and increased online competition have all cut into the companys bottom line. However, the major financial blow to Saks Global came when Hudsons Bay, Sakss previous parent company, acquired competitor Neiman Marcus in 2024 for around $2.7 billion. That move left the new company, Saks Global, saddled with debt. Announcing last month that its bankruptcy process was underway, Saks Global CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said the move presents a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the foundation of our business and position it for the future.
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E-Commerce
Job insecurity is real: More than half of American workers (54%) say insecurity about their job is causing significant stress at work, while more than a third (39%) say they worry they about losing their job due to changes in government policies, according to the American Psychological Associations 2025 Work in America survey. Layoffs are reportedly at an all-time high since 2009, along with the lowest hiring on record in the U.S. since that time. And many of those layoffs have been in white collar professionslike technology, government, journalism, and high education. All of this could pave the way for the rise of a new kind of role: the “new-collar” job. Here’s what to know about the category that’s not quite white collar, or blue collar. What are ‘new-collar’ jobs? Falling somewhere between white and blue collar, “new-collar” jobs require more technical or specialized skills, but not a college degree. They can be learned on the job; at community college, vocational schools, or cybersecurity boot camps; and through a professional certification program, for roles in engineering, tech, or even healthcare. The term was coined by former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty in 2016 (offering yet another example of how 2026 is the new 2016). 10 high-income ‘new-collar’ jobs A new report from Resume Genius, a platform for job seekers, lists 10 roles that often dont require a four-year diploma, but still offer high pay and flexible work options. They are: Marketing manager ($159,660 median annual salary) Human resource manager ($140,000 median annual salary) Sales manager ($138,060 median annual salary) Computer network architect ($130,390 median annual salary) General and operations manager ($129,330 median annual salary) Information security analyst ($124,910 median annual salary) Sales engineer ($121,520 median annual salary) Health services manager ($117,960 median annual salary) Art director ($111,040 median annual salary) Construction manager ($106,980 median annual salary)
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E-Commerce
Lawyers for social media companies will be working overtime in the coming weeks as several major trials get underway addressing the potential harms to children caused by popular sites and apps. At the same time, efforts to deflect at least one major future case have fallen short, increasing pressure on tech giants to agree to an independent assessment of how they protect teen users. The convergence of these developments creates a potential perfect storm for the industry, one that could result in both financial damages and changes to the algorithms that encourage users to keep scrolling for longer and longer periods of time. Much of the focus is on a bellwether trial in Los Angeles that seeks to hold Meta and Google responsible for harms suffered by children who use their products. Plaintiffs allege that services like Instagram and YouTube are designed to keep users, especially kids, engaged. Opening statements were held Monday, with the plaintiffs lawyer arguing that Meta and Google have engineered addiction in childrens brains. The case is widely seen as a test for future lawsuits with similar claims, of which there are approximately 1,500. Meta and Google deny the charges. TikTok and Snap were also named as defendants but settled before the case went to trial. As that suit began in Los Angeles, opening arguments were also heard in Santa Fe in a case brought against Meta by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez in December 2023. The lawsuit accuses the companys platforms of being a breeding ground for sexual predators, a claim Meta denies. That trial, expected to last seven weeks, will determine whether Meta violated the state’s consumer protection laws. If we can win in this action and force them to make their product safer in this state, it changes the narrative completely about what they say is possible for everyone else, Torrez said. Meanwhile, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected a request by Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok for summary judgment in a case brought by Kentuckys Breathitt County School District. That case is part of a consolidated multidistrict litigation that seeks to hold social media companies accountable for engineering addictive features that negatively affect student mental health. Section 230 At the heart of all these cases is how far courts are willing to extend the protections granted by Section 230, the federal law that shields social media companies from liability over content posted by users. The Los Angeles trial, along with the upcoming case in Northern California, argues that jurors should be able to consider whether the algorithms used by these companies are responsible for mental health harms, rather than focusing solely on the content shown on users screens. Perhaps as a preemptive measure, TikTok, Snap, and Meta have agreed to undergo a series of tests overseen by the National Council for Suicide Prevention to evaluate how effectively they protect the mental health of teen users. Among the issues that will be examined are whether the platforms force users to take a break and if they offer a way to turn off endless scrolling. Companies that perform well will receive a badge signaling that they offer a pathway to mental health support. Potential ramifications This is hardly the first time that social media companies have been taken to court over mental health claims. To date, none of those cases has resulted in any sort of major overhauls, however. At the same time, efforts in Washington and by state governments to regulate the industry have fallen short. Further complicating matters is a lack of consensus in the scientific community on whether social media is harmful for teens and kids on the whole. Still, successful outcomes in these cases could force companies to change how people interact with their platforms, potentially reshaping the social media landscape. Victories for plaintiffs could also expose companies to significant liability payouts for harms linked to their services.
Category:
E-Commerce
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