Owner of Saks, Lord & Taylor set to slash 2,000 jobs

The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor will🀅 slash 2,000 jobs as part of a restructuring effort, it said on Thursday.

The layoffs began on Thursday as roughly 600 employees, including some senior staffers across Hudson’s Bay Co.’s various brands — including Gilt Groupe, Saks and L&a𝕴mp;T — got pink-slipped.

The luxury retailer and its peers are struggling to sell their pricey apparel ꦜas consumers increasingly look for bargains — or spend their disposab⛦le income on non-apparel items.

“We are reallocating resources to accelerate the opportunity we see online, as we run our brick and mortar operations more efficiently,” HBC Executive Chairman Richar🦹d Baker said in a ౠstatement.

HBC lost $221 million in the quarter ended Apr༺il 29, as sales eased 3 percent.

Even the company’s lower-priced brands, Saks Off 5th and Gilt, perfo♑rmed weakly🔯, the company said.

HBC is moving to emphasize e-comm🍒erce and said it’s expanding its “buy online, pick up in store” program at all of its stores. Digital♕ sales increased by 5.6 percent from a year ago.

The restructuring is expected to s🤡ave HBC more than $350 million.