The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue is converting parts of department stores into co-working spaces with WeWork, a strategy that marries the popularity of remote work with the struggles of bricks-and-mortar retail.
Hudson’s Bay Co. plans to open its first five co-working offices next month in the New York City area, company executives said. The new venture, dubbed SaksWorks, calls for WeWork to run and staff co-working spaces in buildings that are owned by Hudson’s Bay.
The Canadian retail business group is transforming current and former Saks stores, and some of the spaces previously occupied by Lord & Taylor, into these WeWork-managed co-working offices. The nearly 200-year-old department chain declared bankruptcy in 2020 and said it would close all its remaining stores to operate exclusively as an e-commerce retailer. Hudson’s Bay Co. owns the buildings that were once occupied by Lord & Taylor stores.
Hudson’s Bay is hoping to profit from the rise of remote work, which most polls show many Americans want to continue doing at least part time. A survey of 9,000 workers by consulting giant Accenture PLC earlier this year found that 83% of respondents described a hybrid-work arrangement, with a mix of in-office and at-home work, as ideal.
SaksWorks is betting that it can meet these needs with co-working space, especially in the suburbs where many workers tire of being cooped up at home all day but still want to avoid a tedious commute into the city.
