Saks Incorporated Announces a New Saks Fifth Avenue Store in Palos Verdes, California

Business Wire, Dec 17, 1998

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 1998--Saks Incorporated (NYSE:SKS) (The "Company," formerly Proffitt's, Inc.) today announced that Saks Fifth Avenue has signed an agreement to open a new 42,000 square foot store on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California in the fall of 1999. The new store will be located in Los Angeles County in The Avenue of the Peninsula mall, a retail center being developed by Cousins Properties Incorporated, based in Atlanta, Georgia.

California is a key market for Saks Fifth Avenue, led by the flagship stores in Beverly Hills and San Francisco. This year, as part of the ongoing growth initiative for the region, Saks Fifth Avenue opened stores in Blackhawk, Santa Barbara and Palm Desert, and just opened a new store in Pasadena on December 11. The new Palos Verdes store will bring Saks Fifth Avenue's total number of stores in the state to twelve.

Saks Fifth Avenue also enhanced its marketplace position through expansions and renovations of existing stores. In 1995, the Beverly Hills flagship store was expanded to 275,000 square feet and the site in Carmel was expanded to 48,000 square feet. In 1997, the San Francisco flagship was renovated and expanded with a 35,000 square foot, free standing Men's Store, for a total of 171,000 square feet. The Palm Desert and Pasadena stores bring Saks Fifth Avenue's total square footage in the state to approximately 960,000 square feet.

Philip B. Miller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saks Fifth Avenue, stated, "Complementing our Beverly Hills flagship, our new store in Palos Verdes will augment our ability to further serve this area's highly desirable customer base. The new store will capitalize on Saks Fifth Avenue's established presence in California, bringing our total square footage in the state near the one million mark."

As part of Saks Fifth Avenue's targeted real estate initiatives, it has developed a multi-format store strategy, including Full-Line Resort and Main Street stores. The new bi-level store on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is a Main Street store, a concept designed to bring Saks Fifth Avenue closer to the customer. Located on principal shopping streets of prestigious, smaller communities, Main Street stores deliver the best of Saks Fifth Avenue in an edited format. The new store on the Palos Verdes Peninsula will be located approximately 30 miles south of Beverly Hills.

Saks Fifth Avenue is a member of the Saks Incorporated group and operates 42 Full-Line stores, led by its landmark flagship on New York's Fifth Avenue, 9 Resort and 8 Main Street stores, throughout 23 states.

Saks Incorporated operates over 340 department stores and four free-standing furniture stores under the names of Saks Fifth Avenue, Proffitt's, McRae's, Younkers, Parisian, Herberger's, Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner's, Boston Store and Off 5th. The Company also operates two direct mail businesses, Folio and Bullock & Jones. The Company's annual revenues exceed $6 billion.