NBC 5’s Laura Harris sat down with Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick for an exclusive interview. Metrick discussed the Neiman Marcus flagship closing and NBC 5 took a look at the store’s history.
On March 31, Dallas was set to say goodbye to the more than 100-year-old flagship Neiman Marcus. In February, the company’s new owners, Saks Global, announced they were forced to close the landmark location due to a lease dispute with a property owner.
Just days before it was to close for good, its parent company, Saks Global, announced that it would stay—at least for now.
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WATCH HERE"We're committed to the Neiman Marcus name, period, but in Dallas, absolutely. This is not something that can be messed with," Marc Metrick, CEO of Saks Global, said.
This is just weeks after Metrick announced that the decision to close was final.
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SIGN UP "I think when you say your decision is final, it's final. But what you have to do is you have to weigh again. You don't want to get out and say, well, it's 99%. That's not something how you want to run a business,” Metrick said.
Saks Global's purchase of Neiman Marcus under its umbrella was finalized in December 2024. While that is still relatively new, he said he has been in the industry for more than 30 years and can understand the emotions tied to the changing status.
"It's unfortunate, but when you're in my position and my team, you're looking at it from your employees and your associates. And while the city was making a compelling case to the company, we didn't want to give people any false sense of what was happening," Metrick said.
Metrick said the public may have found out about the change of plans at what seemed like the eleventh hour, but Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert and other leadership had been working on the deal for weeks.
“I think it's about really building or rebuilding this whole downtown corridor and they're committed to working with us all the way through and how that happens and in what shape that takes form,” Metrick said.
He said the store will stay open through the 2025 holiday season. After that, Saks Global and the City of Dallas are exploring ways to reimagine the store. Metrick would not give specifics, but he did say they are working quickly to develop a plan.
He did say that the Zodiak Room restaurant and the Bridal Salon would also remain open through the end of the holiday season.
Before news broke that the store would stay open, NBC 5 talked with Marjon Henderson, vice president of Brand Experience. Henderson has been with the company for more than 20 years.
She said the store became more than just a department store, but a destination.
"Coco Chanel came here, Oscar de la Renta came here, Yves Saint-Laurent, there were so many names that made this place a destination for their business. The idea was to bring the world to Dallas and Dallas to the world". Henderson said.
Inside the Neiman Marcus flagship store in Dallas
She said it hasn’t been an easy road, though. Neiman’s has weathered many storms.
“This is not the original. The original store was a few blocks away, and it burned in a fire. So that was not the end of Neiman Marcus. In fact, it ended up being just the beginning,” Henderson said.
Henderson said Stanley Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband, A.L. Neiman, knew they had something special, so they eventually made the four-story building into nine. Yes! They built straight up, adding floors to fit their growing brand and innovative concepts. Henderson said it was a place for so many firsts.
"Neiman Marcus was the first department store to have a restaurant in it. Think how many people have followed after us. We could list again forever. So, I think what's so special about the Zodiac is it really is where memories are made,” she said.
It was also one of the first major retail stores to host world-renowned fashion shows.
“Models dressed so eloquently and so beautifully, coming down a favorite part in the building for me, which is the mezzanine stairs. And they would start at the top, come down, and it would be lined with men and women who had traveled from all over the state to see this fashion of, again, us bringing the world to Neiman's,” Henderson said.
Henderson said fashion meant more than just clothes off the rack to the family. One way they proved that was by hosting Fortnights. They were a celebration of a pop cultural look at different countries from the 1950s to the late 1980s.
"Fortnights were two weeks of magical parties. Another just incredible marketing concept thought of by the Marcus family. There would be a French Fortnight. There would be a Great Britain Fortnight and an Australian Fortnight. It really inspired a global view of style,” Henderson said.
Marcus staged the first Fortnight in 1957, celebrating France, and that was the 50th anniversary of Neiman Marcus.
Through the floors of the department store, there are so many pieces of history, including the iconic bridal salon where 1950s actress Grace Kelly bought her bridesmaids' dresses.
It’s a place that has stood the test of time for families drawn to the store’s mystique.
She said that while there are countless “favorites” she loves talking about, one that really stands out is leading the team that picks the iconic, opulent, and often viral Fantasy Gifts each holiday season.
From a Barbie Maserati to an actual sleepover for friends in the flagship store. One that she highlighted recently was a one-of-a-kind trip to the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024 with Team USA’s official designer, Ralph Lauren.
"Talk about something that all started with a vision of Stanley Marcus, that now it'll be our 66th year of fantasy gifts. And it all started in this building by Stanley Marcus," Henderson said.
Metrick said he knows this vision will continue, whatever that looks like, as they navigate the next steps.
"I look at this absolutely as two parties [Saks Global and City of Dallas leadership] coming together to work on something to make it great. Really what I am excited about is to put our best foot forward as Saks Global in the Dallas market with Neiman Marcus," Metrick said.
He added that the closure announcement, which came with another announcement that Saks Global would be investing $100 million into the NorthPark Center Neiman Marcus, is still full steam ahead.
"NorthPark is the epicenter of a lot of things that we do. So it's going to be important to invest in that store. That store is an amazing experience today. This isn't something that's broken that needs fixing. This is something that needs to be pushed further and invested in and given, you know, the care and the love that it deserves," Metrick said.
A Neiman Marcus representative said the employees who were offered severance when the store was closing were all called back to decide whether to return to work.
