A few months into what had been a newly created position at Saks Global, John Antonini, senior vice president of accelerated store growth, has decided to leave, the company said by email.
For a quarter century, Antonini has had various roles at Saks Fifth Avenue, starting with a job at the department store’s Troy, Michigan, location. About four months ago, in a LinkedIn post regarding his latest, Antonini said he would be “leading the new Saks Global Stores Growth Team as we begin to integrate the Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue businesses! The team and I will work to create outsized growth and innovation throughout the dynamic store network of these two iconic brands.”
Saks Global merged the two names when it acquired Neiman Marcus Group for $2.7 billion late last year. Bergdorf Goodman, part of NMG, is being run as a stand-alone business.
Antonini is still exploring his next steps, according to an Instagram post Tuesday. “I’ve loved every moment. But the time has come to take a leap and say goodbye to a company that has been my home for so long,” he wrote.
His departure follows last month’s announcement that Larry Bruce, president of stores for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, has left after more than two decades at Saks and, before that, nearly a decade at Neiman Marcus.
The company has been chasing synergies since last year, via a series of layoffs and other moves. Last month executives told BMO Capital Markets analysts that they are confident in the company’s liquidity and that it’s on the way to realizing its five-year goal of $600 million in synergies, with $285 million in run-rate synergies by the end of this fiscal year. That five-year target is about $100 million higher than the original target, and the 2025 run-rate is nearly doubled, per BMO.
In those meetings, the company also said it has no plans to close stores.
A Saks Global spokesperson said the company is grateful to Antonini “for his many contributions in helping to strengthen our stores business.”
“Following the recent integration of the Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus Stores team within our Commercial function, we are well positioned to capture opportunities to maximize growth and better serve our customers and partners as we redefine luxury retail,” the spokesperson said.