The Amazon/Saks deal was a complete misdirection that failed to address a broken core business. Baker didn’t partner with Bezos to fix retail—he did it to prop up his real estate exposure. Saks was reduced to a balance-sheet instrument, not a brand worth investing in.
The off-price strategy was indefensible. The decision to split e-commerce and stores was pure financial manipulation masquerading as strategy, with no grounding in how retail actually works. Off 5th was aggressively overstored, chronically mismanaged, and stripped of any luxury credibility. Instead of building a focused, high-end off-price business, leadership chased mass brands and attempted to play in the TJMaxx/Marshalls sandbox—a space they neither understood nor belonged in. The result was predictable failure.