• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats

2

Jamie Dimon says his stockbroker father taught him to invest with a 'brutally hard' childhood game

3

The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'

1

eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats

2

Jamie Dimon says his stockbroker father taught him to invest with a 'brutally hard' childhood game

3

The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Retaildepartment store

Lord & Taylor Is Closing 10 Stores Including Its Fifth Avenue Flagship

Phil Wahba
By
Phil Wahba
Phil Wahba
Senior Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
Phil Wahba
By
Phil Wahba
Phil Wahba
Senior Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 5, 2018, 11:06 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The U.S. department store meltdown continues.

Lord & Taylor, the 192-year-old chain owned by Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Co (HBC), said on Tuesday it was closing 10 of its 50 stores, becoming the latest department store operator to drastically shrink its footprint.

Bankrupt retailer Bon Ton Stores (BONT) is in the process of liquidating stores, while Sears (SHLD) last week announced yet another round of closings. In 2016 and 2017, J.C. Penney (JCP) and Macy’s (M) closed hundreds of stores.

Perhaps most indicative of Lord & Taylor’s waning fortunes is HBC’s decision to close its iconic flagship on Manhattan’s upscale Fifth Avenue strip altogether. In October, the highly indebted HBC sealed a deal to sell the classic building, which it has occupied since 1914, to WeWork for $850 million but planned to lease back a few floors to keep operating a store. Lord & Taylor was founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord and George Washington Taylor, and for years the chain was beloved for its high quality women’s wear at good prices, and among the first chains to expand into suburbs. It nonetheless remained a regional retailer, present mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.

But HBC, which operates other chains such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Hudson’s Bay, has changed its stance, saying in a statement on Tuesday that “exiting this iconic space reflects Lord & Taylor’s increasing focus on its digital opportunity and HBC’s commitment to improving profitability.” Lord & Taylor, long an e-commerce laggard compared to Macy’s and other rivals, launched a page last week on Walmart.com as part of that strategy. For Walmart, (WMT)Lord & Taylor adds a number of higher end fashion brands shoppers can buy on its website, part of its efforts to attract a more affluent online clientele.

The move is just the latest big fix by HBC CEO Helena Foulkes, the former CVS Health (CVS) executive who took the reins in February. Earlier this week, HBC said it was selling the discount online flash sales site Gilt Group to RueLaLa after only two years. HBC paid $237 million in 2016 and wrote down nearly half that figure only a year later as the business struggled.

Under Foulkes’ predecessor, Gerald Storch, Gilt had become a central part of its Saks Off Fifth discount chain, a business that has languished in recent quarters: HBC reported on Tuesday that in the quarter ended May 5, comparable sales at Saks Off Fifth were down 3.5%, a poor performance compared to those of rivals such as TJX’s (TJX) T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and of Nordstrom (JWN) Rack.

Other parts of HBC’s business did much better during the quarter: Comparable sales, a metric that includes online sales but excludes stores opened or closed in the last 12 months, rose 6% at Saks Fifth Avenue, its strongest result in years. Still, HBC’s aggressive expansion beyond that of Saks Off Fifth is denting results. In Europe, where it bought chains such as Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria INNO, and where it expanded Hudson’s Bay, a Canadian brand, into the Netherlands, comparable sales fell 6.6%.

As for Foulkes, who made her name overseeing CVS’s $80 billion, 8,000-store retail operation, she is making clear that on her watch, HBC will go back to focusing on retail and not just expansion and real estate deals, and that she won’t hesitate to make big moves.

“We need to improve across all areas of the business, and this begins with rededicating ourselves to putting the customer first in everything we do.” Foulkes said in a statement.

With HBC’s results, it’s easy to understand her urgency: HBC reported a net loss of $400 million, or $1.70 a share, in its first quarter, almost double the $221 million loss, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier.Stripping out some one-time items, the adjusted net loss was $286 million, worse than the $200.5 million figure financial analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. That sent shares down as much as 12% early on Tuesday.

 

 

 

About the Author
Phil Wahba
By Phil WahbaSenior Writer
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Phil Wahba is a senior writer at Fortune primarily focused on leadership coverage, with a prior focus on retail.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Retail

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Retail

Costco’s $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
RetailCostco
Costco’s $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
By Sydney LakeJuly 29, 2026
6 hours ago
js
SuccessEntrepreneurs
‘We’re on top of every restock’: This 24-year-old has made over $4 million off his subscription-based reselling community
By Joshua HongJuly 29, 2026
13 hours ago
Photo of former CEO David Wenig
LaweBay
eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats
By The Associated Press and Leah WillinghamJuly 28, 2026
23 hours ago
erling
Arts & EntertainmentJD Sports Fashion
The Erling Haaland boom: Norway’s ‘pop-up economy’ during the World Cup revealed in Visa data
By Catherina GioinoJuly 28, 2026
1 day ago
arnault
C-SuiteLVMH
Bernard Arnault is denying a family rift—and any kind of real-life Succession. LVMH earnings tell a stranger story
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 28, 2026
1 day ago
kfc
RetailAuction
‘He did wear clip-ons’: KFC founder Colonel Sanders’ pressure cooker, bow ties, former home up for auction
By Dylan Lovan and The Associated PressJuly 28, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats
Law
eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats
By The Associated Press and Leah WillinghamJuly 28, 2026
23 hours ago
Jamie Dimon says his stockbroker father taught him to invest with a 'brutally hard' childhood game
C-Suite
Jamie Dimon says his stockbroker father taught him to invest with a 'brutally hard' childhood game
By Sarah GlodekJuly 29, 2026
13 hours ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
4 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 28, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 28, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 28, 2026
1 day ago
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
Retail
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
By Sydney LakeJuly 29, 2026
6 hours ago
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
C-Suite
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.