
Saks Fifth Avenue to Close Store in San Francisco's Union Square
Luxury department chain Saks Fifth Avenue confirmed April 25 that it will close its Union Square location in San Francisco next month, making it the latest to leave the historic shopping district.
The outlet will lock the doors at the corner of Post and Powell streets for a final time on May 10 after nearly 30 years. It
'While we saw meaningful engagement and success through the appointment-only format, we have made this decision as part of our integration process as we focus on long-term growth,' a Saks Global spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Friday in an email.
In December 2024, Hudson's Bay Company, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, announced it had
The company looks forward to serving the Bay Area community at Neiman Marcus San Francisco, Neiman Marcus Palo Alto, The Fifth Avenue Club Palo Alto, Saks.com, and NeimanMarcus.com, according to the spokesperson.
The company said its vision includes preserving what is exceptional about the Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus brands.
Related Stories
12/24/2024
11/22/2024
'There is not a broader plan to consolidate in markets where both Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus operate,' the spokesperson added.
Saks employees will be able to transfer to Neiman Marcus San Francisco where possible and others will be offered separation packages, the spokesperson said.
The Union Square Alliance, an organization dedicated to enhancing the shopping district, said the closure was expected and is part of the downtown's transformation.
'While the closing of Saks marks the end of an era, this was not an unforeseen development considering their recent changes to an appointment-only model, and Neiman Marcus acquisition,' alliance spokesman Will Reisman told The Epoch Times in an email Friday. 'We expect the path to downtown revitalization to have its twists and turns—still we are extremely optimistic about the future of Union Square.'
A security guard watches the entrance to a Louis Vuitton store near Union Square in San Francisco on Nov. 30, 2021. The store boarded up its windows as a security measure amid a spike in thefts.According to the alliance, retail momentum continues downtown with clothing and beauty products retailer Zara's launch of a flagship store on Post Street, menswear store John Varvatos's relocation to the district, and Shoe Palace thriving on Powell Street.
Nintendo is also scheduled to open a much-awaited second U.S. store in May, the alliance reported.
'With a vibrant summer of events and our In Bloom programming ahead, 2025 is shaping up to be a standout year for the heart of San Francisco,' Reisman added.
Union Square In Bloom is a yearly promotion highlighting floral displays in the shopping district.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Epoch Times
2 days ago
- Epoch Times
Corruption Undermines Safety in China's Auto Industry: Insider
As China's automobile industry has rapidly developed and expanded into the international market in recent years, an industry insider has revealed to The Epoch Times that performance, safety, and durability issues in Chinese cars are rooted in systemic corruption within the Chinese communist regime. Huang Guocheng, a former automotive mechanical structural design engineer in Guangxi Province, joined a well-known Chinese auto company after graduating from university in 2004. He told The Epoch Times recently that Chinese auto companies generally focus their research and development on eye-catching elements—such as appearance, color, and interior trim—but place less emphasis on performance and safety.

Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Epoch Times
Who Is the Ex-NASA Nominee Pushed to Spotlight by Musk-Trump Spat
Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and formerly the nominee for President Donald Trump's NASA Administrator, has received scrutiny over his past donations amid growing public tensions between Trump and Elon Musk. Trump highlighted Isaacman's past donations—which In announcing the decision last week, Trump cited a 'thorough review of prior associations' and said that he would nominate an individual who would put 'America First in Space.' Isaacman had been suggested for the top space position by Musk, who heads SpaceX, the world's most valuable private space company. Isaacman helmed several spaceflight missions operated SpaceX, including the 2021 Inspiration4 and the 2024 Polaris Dawn, where he participated in the first private spacewalk. Isaacman accumulated his wealth through Shift4 Payments, the payment processing company he founded in his parents' house at age 16. He is also the founder of Draken International, an aerospace defense contractor. Trump has highlighted the fact that Musk knew Isaacman 'very well,' but said that Isaacman was a 'Democrat,' and that his nomination was 'inappropriate.' 'He happened to be a Democrat—like, totally Democrat,' Trump said. 'I say, you know, look, we won. We get certain privileges, and one of the privileges is we don't have to appoint a Democrat,' Trump told reporters last week. The NASA logo in the Webb Auditorium at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2022. STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images A senior administration official told The Epoch Times, that Isaacman's nomination wasn't pulled because of Musk and that other administration officials and nominees suggested by Musk aren't affected. 'Jared Isaacman should have never been picked,' said the senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. In a June 4 podcast 'I want to be overwhelmingly clear. I don't fault the President at all. I fully support him,' Isaacman said. Isaacman did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the U.S. Steel Corporation – Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pa., on May 30, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times Speaking of his nomination interview, he praised Trump for a depth of knowledge about the space program and China. 'The President was incredibly knowledgeable. I was impressed,' he said, noting they spoke a lot about the Chinese Air Force. After leaving the Trump administration as a special employee last week, Musk has criticized the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the president endorsed, over its potential fiscal impact on the federal government, calling the tax and spending package an 'abomination.' Trump has since threatened to pull federal subsidies and contracts for Musk's companies, saying it would be the 'easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars.' Musk is the CEO of spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX and electric vehicle maker Tesla.

Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Epoch Times
HMRC Loses £47 Million in Phishing Attack on 100,000 Taxpayer Accounts
HMRC has lost £47 million after a phishing scam hit 100,000 pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax accounts in an organised crime incident which began last year. The UK's tax authority sought to assure taxpayers in their Following the exposure of the breach, HMRC said it has taken action to protect those accounts by locking them down, deleting login credentials to prevent further unauthorised access, and removing any incorrect information from tax records. The authority said that the attack affected 0.22 percent of the PAYE population. An HMRC spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Thursday: 'We've acted to protect customers after identifying attempts to access a very small minority of tax accounts, and we're working with other law enforcement agencies both in the UK and overseas to bring those responsible to justice. 'This was not a cyberattack—it involved criminals using personal information from phishing activity or data obtained elsewhere to try to claim money from HMRC. Related Stories 5/21/2025 5/9/2025 'We're writing to those customers affected to reassure them we've secured their accounts and that they haven't lost any money.' HMRC added that while it is not in a position to give further details for operational reasons, they confirmed that arrests have been made. Information 'Not Taken From HMRC' 'Phishing' is when cyber criminals use scam emails, text messages, or phone calls which appear to be from trusted organisations to trick victims into taking a specific action, such as clicking on a link taking them to a website containing malware, or handing over personal information. According to the The revelations were made public on Wednesday via the HMRC website, at the same time senior figures from the tax agency were giving evidence to the Treasury Committee. John Paul Marks, the chief executive of HMRC, told MPs that criminals had used personal data they had obtained through phishing to masquerade as legitimate customers 'to create PAYE accounts to pay themselves a repayment and/or access an existing account.' Angela MacDonald, HMRC's deputy chief executive and second permanent secretary, further clarified that information had been taken from other environments and that 'it had not been taken from HMRC.' File photo of a woman using a laptop as she holds a bank card, dated March 30, 2020. Tim Goode/PA Wire MacDonald told the committee: 'Lots of people who would just 'Pay As You Earn' haven't got an online account because they have no reason to go in to one. So for many instances, the customers were not realising that somebody else was in their account.' However, she added that there were instances of live accounts 'where the criminals had managed to get their details and were logging in as the customer.' Asked to confirm how much money was taken, MacDonald replied: 'They have managed to extract free payments to the tune of £47 million. That is a lot of money, and it's very unacceptable. We have in the last tax year protected £1.9 billion worth of money which sought to be taken from us by attacks.' 'Social Engineering Attack' HMRC officials reiterated during the committee meeting that what occurred was not a cyberattack, with MacDonald saying: 'We have not been hacked. We have not had data extracted from us.' Penetration tester Shaun Webber, who simulates cyberattacks to identify vulnerabilities in systems, told The Epoch Times that generally phishing is classed as a 'social engineering attack,' because it relies on attacking the person rather than a system. 'However, there is overlap, because during phishing, someone might be delivering a payload which would exploit a particular vulnerability,' he said. 'It's definitely one of the most effective ways of getting that initial access,' the cybersecurity professional said, and went on to explain how phishing might be used to penetrate a business. 'Companies spend a lot of time and effort securing their external, internet-facing presence, so there's often no real way of gaining access to the network from an external perspective' because it is 'segmented away from the internal network.' He said that when a criminal sends an employee a phishing email, that employee is already in the internal network, giving the criminal an effective way of getting an initial foothold into a company's internal network. Webber said: 'This is why we have things like zero trust architecture, where even if someone does get into the internal network, it's not just wide open. You still have to reauthenticate for each service you access.' 'For example, if you're suddenly logging in from a different IP address than what you normally log in from, the account would automatically be asked for additional authentication, or be blocked,' the cybersecurity professional said. UK's Cybersecurity Resilience The phishing attack on HMRC comes at a time of broader scrutiny over the cybersecurity resilience of British institutions and businesses. In May, a That same month, the head of the NCSC also