Saks Fifth Avenue

Leading department store operator Hudson’s Bay Company confirmed months of speculation and agreed to pay what appears to be a modest sum to acquire online luxury retailer Gilt Groupe.

Hudson’s Bay, which operates 470 department stores including Saks Fifth Avenue and the Off 5th discount format, said it agreed to pay $250 million for Gilt in a deal that will add $500 million to 2016, $40 million in adjusted operating profit by 2017 and countless synergies to leverage the combined companies’ infrastructure and customer databases.

Leading department store operator Hudson’s Bay Company confirmed months of speculation and agreed to pay what appears to be a modest sum to acquire online luxury retailer Gilt Groupe.

Hudson’s Bay, which operates 470 department stores including Saks Fifth Avenue and the Off 5th discount format, said it agreed to pay $250 million for Gilt in a deal that will add $500 million to 2016, $40 million in adjusted operating profit by 2017 and countless synergies to leverage the combined companies’ infrastructure and customer databases.

Saks Fifth Avenue has another store to its lineup at Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan.

The retailer, a division of Hudson’s Bay Company, said it will open a 16,750-sq.-ft. dedicated men’s store at the center, in spring 2017. As previously announced, Saks will open an 85,000-sq.-ft. full line store at Brookfield Place.

There’s been a top-level shakeup at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., with the company announcing a big promotion for one executive and the departure of another.

The retailer elevated the head of its Hollister brand, Fran Horowitz, to the newly created role of president and chief merchandising officer with responsibility for all brands. It also announced the departure of Christos Angelides, who has served as president of the Abercrombie brand since October 2014. And it said that it has suspended its active hunt for a CEO.

Abercrombie & Fitch elevated the head of its Hollister brand to the newly created role of president and chief merchandising officer after announcing the departure of another top executive.

Weak traffic at Saks 5th Avenue stores did not keep Hudson's Bay Company from reporting higher sales and profit in the third quarter.

For the third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company posted a profit of $1 million, compared with a $13 million loss a year earlier. Total sales increased 34% to $2.57 billion, up from $1.91 billion. Consolidated sales growth was 34.1%, up $653 million from prior year with same-store sales growth of 12.9%. But Saks Fifth Avenue logged a same store sales decrease of 3.6%.

Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th continues to expand north of the border.

The off-price retailer and Ivanhoé Cambridge announced an agreement to bring four new Saks Off 5th locations to Canada. The stores, the brand’s first in their respective markets, will open in four Ivanhoé Cambridge shopping centers: Tsawwassen Mills, Tsawwassen, B.C., Outlet Collection Winnipeg; Place Ste-Foy, Quebec City; and Montreal Eaton Centre, Montreal.

Here are the details on the four locations:

Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th continues to expand north of the border.

A department store and a beauty specialty retailer have the best momentum in social media going into the holiday season. Meanwhile, an online giant is losing steam.