All entries tagged with “Saks Fifth Avenue”

New Saks GM Announced at UTC Store

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Tuesday Feb 24, 2015 11:18 am

Saks Fifth Avenue today announced that Terri Najmolhoda will take on the role of Vice President, General Manager, Sarasota, and will be in charge of the Saks location at University Town Center, the first full-line Saks store to open in a decade. She succeeds Joel Ellzey, who opened the new store in October before taking on a position as Vice President, General Manager, Boston.

Najmolhoda previously held a similar post in Chevy Chase, Maryland for a Saks location there. In the new post, Najmolhoda will report to Kim Nye, Sakes senior vice president and regional director of stores for this part of the country. Najmolhoda has worked in national retail since 1987 for such companies as U.S. Shoe Corporation, Banana Republic and Dayton Hudson Marshall Fields. She joined Saks in 2008 and has worked in Troy, Michigan and in Florida stores in Boca Raton and Tampa.

Glimpse Into Saks, Sophies

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Monday Oct 13, 2014 1:23 pm

From hard shops featuring the designs of Alexander McQueen to fitting rooms with private habberdasheries, the newest location for Saks Fifth Avenue exudes exuberrance and exclusivity. Executives for Saks and The Mall at University Town Center today invited press and special guests to a preview of the new store at The Mall at University Town Center, and SRQ was there to share the first glimpse of the store, which opens to the public on Thursday.

From the moment your car gets valeted at the outside entrance, you can expect a luxury experience. Tables showcasing the exclusive work of such high-end shoe designer labels as Manolo Blahnik and Brian Atwood greet the high-end shopper, and officials from Saks stressed that the opening of the new store brings labels to this market never showcased before, even in the just-closed Saks location at Westfield Southgate. Among the new features at this prototype Saks are the hard shops lining the walls that exclusively showcase work by particular designers in everything from handbags to runway dresses to fragrances. Saks-specific mannequins boldly adorn some of the most difficult-to-find clothes fresh off the runways in couture shows, while a contemporary section of the second floor brings fashion for the everyday lifestyle in demographics from the teens to the senior set. 

The event Monday was billed in large part as a showcase for Sophie's, the private dining experience inside Saks. An intimate dining setting and outdoor terrace, which incidentally connects to the private Saks Fifth Avenue Club for private shopping experiences, provides an upscale setting for fine dining. This is only the second Sophie's concept to debut in the United States, following a location in a Saks in Chicago.

The event Tuesday was a coming out party of sorts for this debutante of stores. A Key to the Cure charity event will be held Tuesday night, and the store will also be open during an exclusive tour being held for special guests at the Mall on Wednesday evening. Then the store will be a major part of the UTC ribbon-cutting event on Thursday morning, when Saks president Marigay McKee will be in town.

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