Original Store Bergdorf Goodman Wikipedia
Is the iconic luxury fashion department store Bergdorf Goodman being shopped around for sale by its parent company the Neiman Marcus Group? Well, it just might be, at least according to a report in The New York Post. In fact, Neiman Marcus itself may even be up for sale.
Most people would probably be surprised that Bergdorf Goodman is actually owned by its fellow luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus. Remember that old saying – does Macy’s tell Gimbels? Well, such combinations in the world of retail are actually quite common. Everything from supermarket chains to toy stores – both regional ones and national ones – have combined over the years to form “mega” chains.” And they frequently preserve separate brand names as each has its own niche and market reputation worth maintaining.
Bergdorf Goodman’s owner Andrew Goodman sold the firm in 1972 to Broadway-Hale Stores, which would become Carter Hawley Hale Stores (CHH), which already owned Neiman Marcus at the time. In the 1980s the store would become part of the newly formed Neiman Marcus Group, currently owned by a group of investment companies led by Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Sixth Street Partners and Pacific Investment Management.
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If you review the respective website of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman you will see that they offer more or less the same kinds of products, from fancy jewelry to clothing for men and women and expensive perfumes. But why sell now?
Well, in May of 2020, Neiman Marcus went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. And this was the worst time imaginable for retailers as the world had just gone into the Covid crisis shutdowns. But the firm came out of bankruptcy by the end of the year and in June 2022 it reported huge increases in sales with the end of the Covid crisis. But in 2023, things have not gone so well for the retailer.
So, now may be the best time for the owners to sell out and take as much in profit as they can.
“There is a civil war going on between the ownership group,” a source with knowledge of the situation told The New York Post. “Neiman Marcus had a very bad year, and the minority shareholders have lost faith with the business plan and with management.”
“The crown jewel will always find a buyer, but I think Neiman loses most of its value if Bergdorf goes away. Saks and Neiman are considered equals. The differentiator for Neiman has always been Bergdorf.”
Based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, Bergdorf Goodman was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Neiman Marcus was founded in 1907 by Herbert Marcus Sr., a former buyer with Dallas’ Sanger Brothers department store, with his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman and her husband, Abraham Lincoln Neiman. All three were Jewish. In addition to Bergdorf Goodman, the company also owns Horchow, and Last Call.
