The Westchester Brief | 03.25.26: Neiman Marcus Is Closing — What It Means for White Plains

Neiman Marcus at The Westchester in White Plains closes in May — not because demand dried up, but because Saks Global's $2.65 billion debt load collapsed. Meanwhile, UNIQLO just opened, DeCicco's launched in Sleepy Hollow, and Cross County is building a park. The story is not that retail is dying in Westchester. It is that retail is changing. Plus: Mariachi Mexico closes, DeCicco's opens in Sleepy Hollow, and Blueprint '26 takes shape.

In This Episode:
0:00 Cold Open: The wealthiest county loses its Neiman Marcus
0:40 Saks Global bankruptcy and store closures
1:30 How the debt-fueled acquisition failed
2:30 What The Westchester mall looks like now
3:15 The new retail landscape: experiential, local, different
4:00 The 143,000-square-foot question for White Plains
4:30 Quick Hits: DeCicco's, Mariachi Mexico, Blueprint '26
6:15 Closing remarks

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Westchester is one of the wealthiest counties in America. And it is about to lose its Neiman markets. Not because people stopped shopping there, because a billionaire loaded the company with$2.65 billion in debt. And now, the whole thing is collapsing. This is the Westchester Brief. I'm Jim. Let's get into it. Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. On March 6th, the company announced it would close 15 stores nationwide, 12 Saks Fifth Avenue locations, and three Neiman Marcus locations. The Neiman Marcus at the Westchester and White Plains is one of the three. It closes in May. Here is how this happened. In 2024, Sachs owner Richard Baker engineered an acquisition of Neiman Marcus, merging the two luxury brands under a new entity called Sachs Global. The deal was financed with heavy debt. By January of this year, Saks Global was carrying approximately$2.65 billion in obligations it could not service. The bankruptcy filing followed. The irony is not subtle. Westchester County has the highest median household income in New York State. The Westchester Mall in White Plains is a Simon property, one of the premier retail destinations in the county. Neiman Marcus has been an anchor there for decades, occupying 143,000 square feet. The store is not closing because demand disappeared. It is closing because corporate financial engineering failed. After the closures, Saks Global will operate just 13 Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 32 Neiman Marcus locations nationwide. That is a dramatically smaller footprint for two brands that wants to find American luxury retail. But here is the part of this story that does not fit neatly into a decline narrative. The Westchester Mall is not dying. Uniqlo opened an 11,000 square foot store on March 21st, the brand's second Westchester location. Simon Properties reports that the mall has 149 stores and eateries. Nordstrom, which occupies 200,000 square feet, remains the other anchor. Meanwhile, in Sleepy Hollow, DeSico and Sons celebrated the grand opening of its new location inside the Edge on Hudson development. In Yonkers, Marks Realty is investing in a 60,000 square foot expansion of Cross County Center with a four-acre public park. So the story is not that retail in Westchester is collapsing. The story is that luxury retail's old model, massive flagship department stores anchored by brand prestige, is being replaced by something different. Experiential retail, specialty grocers, fast fashion, community spaces. The county's commercial identity is shifting, and White Plains is at the center of that transition. Simon Properties, which owns the Westchester, has not publicly addressed what happens to the Neiman Marcus space. But the mall is turning 30 this year and still has 149 tenants. Nordstrom remains at 200,000 square feet. The question is not whether the mall survives. The question is what kind of mall it becomes. If Simon fills that space with another department store anchor, it signals a bet on the old model. If it converts the footprint into smaller experiential tenants, co-working space, food halls, or entertainment, that signals something different entirely. White Plains' identity as Westchester's commercial center may depend on which direction they choose, and for residents who have watched the county's retail landscape shift over the past five years, this is worth paying attention to. Here's what else is happening across Westchester this week. DeChico and Sons opened its newest location in Sleepy Hollows, Edge on Hudson development, pairing Girmay Groceries with the neighborhood's growing residential footprint. It is the latest expansion for the family-owned Westchester chain. Mariachi, Mexico, a long-running restaurant in Westchester, served its final dinner this month after the landlord declined to renew the lease without explanation. It joins Yaranoosh as another independent business lost to commercial lease dynamics. The Westchester Economic Alliance launched its Blueprint 26 process, a data-driven assessment of where the county's economy stands and where it needs to go. A cross-sector steering committee chaired by WCA Board, Chair Chris Fisher, and County Director of Operations Joan McDonald is guiding the work. Findings are expected later this year. That is the Westchester brief for Wednesday, March 25th. If you are not subscribed to the newsletter, head to I LiveHearWestchester.com. You will get this in your inbox every morning. I'm Jim and I live here. I'll see you tomorrow.