Bankrupt Saks Fifth Avenue to close Sarasota-UTC store

The Sarasota-Manatee market will soon be without a Saks Fifth Avenue store for the first time in 30 years. 

The retailer, in a Saturday note to customers, says it will be closing its location at the Mall at University Town Center in the UTC district, just outside Lakewood Ranch, at the end of May. “As part of our broader evaluation of our store footprint, we have made the difficult decision to close our Saks Sarasota location,” the company says. 

The closing is part of a company-wide move to shutter locations in the wake of a January bankruptcy filing from Saks’ parent company, Saks Global. With holdings that include Saks 5th Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Off 5th, Last Call and Horchow, Saks Global reported it had between $1 billion and $10 billion in debt when it filed for bankruptcy Jan. 13 in Houston. 

The 80,000-square-foot UTC Saks location is one of three anchors at the mall, which opened to large fanfare in October 2014. The other anchors are a 160,000-square-foot Macy’s and 180,000-square-foot Dillard’s. The two-story Saks occupies a prime spot in the middle of the mall, across from the high-traffic Apple store and near the Cheesecake Factory. Officials with Benderson Development, the east Manatee County company that partnered with Michigan-based Taubman to build the mall, couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday to comment on the pending vacancy.   

The looming closure, in addition to creating an empty spot in the mall, also marks the end of an era for the Sarasota-Manatee retail and clothes shopping community. A Saks Fifth Avenue store opened in the Southgate Mall in Sarasota in 1996. It grew to be a go-to spot for customers from downtown Sarasota, Longboat and Lido Key south to Casey Key seeking event and party attire for the region’s charity event season. Even some of the actual see-and-be-seen events were held at the Southgate Saks, which a manager once called one of the most profitable stores in the company, despite not being in a big-city market. 

Rumors swirled for months when the UTC mall was under construction if the Southgate Saks would close and move to the new spot "out east" in north Sarasota, across University Parkway from Manatee County. Saks made the announcement in April 2012 that it was leaving Southgate for UTC. 

The UTC store soon became its own local landmark of sorts, hosting events such as the popular Key to the Cure breast cancer awareness and fundraiser. The second floor of the UTC location includes a Sophie’s restaurant, only the second one the company opened, following its debut in Chicago. 

In January, Saks Global announced it was shuttering six Off 5th discount stores in Florida, including one in Park Shore Plaza in Naples; Ellenton Premium Outlets in Manatee County; and Tampa Premium Outlets in Pasco County.

The UTC closing is part of a second wave of closures announced Friday, which includes 11 other Saks Fifth Avenue locations and three Neiman Marcus stores. The UTC store was the only Florida store on that list. 

Saks, according to the Associated Press, is closing the stores to trim debt and focus on its most profitable businesses. The company, the AP reports, says “500 brands have resumed shipping, releasing close to $1.3 billion in retail receipts. That accounts for more than 80% of the inventory the company expects to receive from February through April.”