Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/303789
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUDREY DEMPSEY (STORE PHOTOS); NEIL RASMUS/BFANYC.COM (KARAN AND VON FURSTENBERG) ba sed na mes such a s E rdem Mora lioglu a nd Jonat ha n Saunders. She brought in less-expensive lines, but dramati- cally raised prices, too. Harrods's international clientele didn't ba lk at gow ns cost ing $10 0,0 0 0 a s t he store upped it s h igh- fashion cool. "I had 20 percent annual comps ever y year for the last five years," McKee notes. In the last fiscal year, turn- over increased 10 percent to a record £716.3 million. So why leave? W hen Ba ker ca me ca lling la st sum mer, McKee hesitated at first. "It's a tough choice when you have a home set up, and you have family and friends around you," she says. Yet there was something about Saks—with its rich 90 -year his- tory of dressing style icons like Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Grace Kelly—that drew her in. "I went from saying 'No way' to 'Maybe' to, after a month or so, thinking, This will be great. This is the right time. I think we can do this." Over the next two years, McKee will be spending an estimated $200 million to redesign Saks's original New York f lagship store on Fifth Avenue and diversifying the company's product offer- ings location by location throughout the US, including Vegas's Fashion Show outpost, by bring- ing in more one-of-a-kind designer pieces, collaborations, pop-ups, and even new categories. "If we want to future-proof our brands, our job as retailers is to give the customer t he t h ree E's: excitement , enter t a inment , a nd exper ience," she expla ins. "Showmanship wins in Las Vegas, and we'll be putting on a show for our customers with an elevated mix of designers and higher standards for every- thing from service to store environment. The experience is everything." As they move forward, McKee's team is also digging deep into t he Sa ks a rch ives. "We looked at t hese old screen stars and iconic women of the last centur y, all photographed shopping at Saks," she says. "It made me think about the journey that we should be taking, which is an evolution, not a revolution. We will do a lot of firsts over the next couple of years that are going to be fantas- tic. I want to leave the customer breathless." V The Saks Fifth Avenue boutique at Fashion Show, soon to receive the full Marigay McKee treatment. *on excellence "I wanted to live my life in a way that wasn't mediocre. I always wanted to build something, to exceed expectations. I tried to stay focused on what's going to add value." *on style "As a kid I read Vogue when all of my friends were reading comics. I had a very chic grandmother, and until the day she died at age 99, I never saw her without makeup and her pearls. That was a big influence on me." *on instinct "I don't sit on the fence, ever. I'm very decisive. I have always had this vision of what needs to be done, and it's based on gut. If you're a merchant and you know your stuff, you have a gut feel. Every time I've veered away from it, that's when I've made a mistake." *the joy of giving back "I taught at privileged schools, but on the flip side, I also did prison visiting and young offender visiting. When I first met Oscar [de la Renta], I was visiting an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. It had nothing to do with fashion." RETAIL THERAPY Marigay McKee on success and the city. continued from page 57 VIEW FROM THE TOP BELOW: Marigay McKee with Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg. BOTTOM: Saks at Fashion Show. 58 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 056-058_V_SP_PowerStrip_MayJune_14.indd 58 4/21/14 3:23 PM