After decades as a luxury retail anchor along City Avenue, Saks Fifth Avenue will close its Bala Cynwyd location this April, writes Erin McCarthy for The Philadelphia Inquirer
Parent company Saks Global announced the shutdown as part of a broader restructuring effort following a recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The Bala store is one of nine locations nationwide slated to close in this first phase of cost-cutting.
According to a WARN filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, 50 local employees will be laid off effective April 11. Company leaders cited store performance and lease economics in their decision.
The closure lands at a pivotal moment for Bala Plaza, which is undergoing a major redevelopment into a mixed-use campus with new residential units. Just down the road, the former Lord & Taylor building is already being converted into apartments, signaling a broader transformation of the City Avenue corridor.
For Montgomery County shoppers, the nearest full Saks location will soon be in New York, though King of Prussia Mall’s Neiman Marcus remains open.
The departure marks the end of a retail era, and another chapter in the region’s evolving commercial landscape.
Read more about Saks Global’s new strategy and the fate of the Bala Cynwyd retail store in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
