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, then jointly occupied by the
Democratic Club and the Buckingham Hotel. 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.