The news: Once-storied department store Lord & Taylor is getting a second life as an online-only luxury off-price retailer, per Business of Fashion (BoF).
A bold new chapter: Regal has big ambitions for Lord & Taylor, despite its ignominious end. The retailer’s last stores closed in 2020, while its ecommerce operations folded earlier in 2024 after its then-owner, Saadia Group, shut down following a default on a loan agreement.
The goal is for Lord & Taylor to offer “many different products—womenswear, special occasion dresses, suiting, small leather goods, footwear, and many other categories,” Regal’s chief brand and strategy officer, Sina Yenel, told BoF.
A long shot: Brand revivals are tricky in the best of times, and Lord & Taylor’s return from the dead is complicated by the fact that it has been out of the public consciousness for so long—not to mention its long, slow decline prior to going out of business.
Regal’s job is made harder by its decision to reinvent the brand as something it never was—a luxury off-price retailer—which could throw off shoppers familiar with Lord & Taylor in its previous incarnation. It also puts Lord & Taylor in direct competition with formidable players like TJX and Yoox Net-a-Porter’s The Outnet, both of which have the upper hand when it comes to sourcing designer inventory and attracting shoppers’ attention.
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