LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Saks: Horace Saks
built 289 days ago
Saks Fifth Avenue was the brainchild of Horace Saks and Bernard Gimbel, who operated independent retail stores on New York's 34th Street at Herald Square in the early 1900s. Their dream was to construct a unique specialty store that would become synonymous with fashionable, gracious living. The combined financial input of these great merchant families led to the purchase of a site between 49th and 50th Streets on upper Fifth Avenue. With the opening of its founders' "dream store" on September 15, 1924, Saks Fifth Avenue became the first large retail operation to locate in what was then primarily a residential district. By offering the finest quality men's and women's fashions, as well as an extraordinary program of customer services, Saks Fifth Avenue has become the byword for taste and elegance.
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Saks Fifth Avenue is the successor of a business founded by Andrew Saks in 1867 and incorporated in New York in 1902 as Saks & Company. Andrew died in 1912 and in 1923 Saks & Co. merged with Gimbels Brothers, Inc., operating as a separate autonomous subsidiary. On September 15, 1924, Horace Saks and Bernard Gimbel opened Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City.
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Horace Saks died suddenly of septic poisoning in 1926. Bernard Gimbel's cousin Adam had been Horace's assistant and was named president of Saks Fifth Avenue. Handsome, charming, and gregarious, Adam created small specialty shops within the store, which he had redecorated in the dramatic Art Moderne style. He filled Saks Fifth Avenue with exclusive merchandise from Europe and the U.S. and established small boutiques that made custom men's shirts and ladies' made-to-order dresses. He built the dominant fine shoe business and believed in a large stock, even in difficult economic times, so customers could have a large range of choices. He opened the company's first Resort store in Palm Beach, Florida, becoming the first specialty store to expand nationally.
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Andrew Saks was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Washington, D.C., to make his fortune. He established a successful clothing business in 1867, and opened a store in New York on 34th Street in 1902 as Saks and Co. Andrew Saks ran the New York store as a family affair with his brother Isadore, and his sons Horace and William. Young Horace, who had been privately schooled and attended Princeton University, became the driving force of the family enterprise after Andrew died in 1912. With a keen eye and good business sense, Horace pushed to open a new store on Fifth Avenue, to appeal to a higher-class clientele. At the same time Horace Saks was exploring his options in the New York retail world, another young man, Bernard Gimbel, was considering the attributes of a merger between the two families.
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Andrew Saks was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Washington, D.C., to make his fortune. He established a clothing business there in 1867 that grew to include stores in other cities. He moved to New York and opened Saks & Company in 1902 at Sixth Avenue and 34th Street with the help of his brother Isadore and his sons Horace and William. When Andrew died in 1912, he was succeeded by the Princeton-educated Horace.
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This internationally venerated symbol of class and elegance began its impressive retailing history in 1924 as the brainchild of Horace Saks and Bernard Gimbel. Their flagship "dream store," and now a New York City landmark (1985), features nine floors of grand luxury, stocked with exclusive items for men and women.
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Horace Saks