Neiman Marcus is quietly holding talks about acquiring new office space in Dallas – and the negotiations are fueling fears about the future of the fashionable retailer.
The ailing luxury chain is about to close a deal for new offices in Dallas to accommodate a few hundred people, sources told the Post. That compares to the 1,500 company employees who slumbered in three different buildings in Dallas before the pandemic, two of which went bankrupt last year.
Some insiders fear the talks are a signal that Neiman is finally ready to leave its flagship store in downtown Dallas – a popular city landmark that has also served as the company’s headquarters for more than a century.
In a statement Thursday to The Post, Neiman’s Chief People & Belonging Officer Eric Severson said, “We have no plans to close our flagship downtown Dallas location.”
Others, meanwhile, wonder if it makes sense for the insolvent retailer to look for more office space now, as many Neiman executives have not worked in Dallas since the pandemic and a post-Chapter 11 restructuring last turned the company’s business upside down Year.
Neiman Marcus is headquartered in the downtown Dallas building that also houses its flagship store. The ailing retailer is in talks to find new office space in the city.LARRY W SMITH / EPA-EFE / Shuttersto
“The building is supposed to house executives and be the face of the company,” an anonymous employee complained on the EthicsPoint platform. “It doesn’t make sense because a lot of our senior executives don’t live in Dallas.”
“The idea of getting a building so that this group can meet three or four times a year is irresponsible for tax purposes,” added the employee. “This is clearly not the Dallas-based company that was formed [more than a century ago]. “
Since March 2020, senior executives at headquarters reporting to Chief Executive Geoffroy van Raemdonck have been working remotely. This includes President David Goubert, who briefly moved from Miami to Dallas and then back to Florida. Bob Kupbens, Chief Product and Technology Officer, lives in San Francisco.
Since March, Neiman Marcus executives, who report to Chief Executive Geoffroy van Raemdonck shown, have been working remotely – outside of the Dallas headquarters.Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
The company’s chief legal officer, Hannah Kim, lives in St. Louis. Chief Merchandising Officer Lana Todorovich lives in New York City as does fashion and lifestyle director Lisa Aikin. Insiders tell the Post that the work from home policy is likely to be permanent.
Van Raemdonck, who has a home in Dallas, lives six weeks a year in Europe and six weeks from his home in the Hamptons and an apartment in New York City, according to Anonymous Post.
“Trust in GVR is lower than ever,” said another Post employee, referring to van Raemdonck. “And people are wondering about Neiman Marcus’ status in Dallas and why most high-level executives either left Dallas or never came.”
In his written statement to The Post, Neiman’s Severson did not specifically address questions about Neiman’s plans for new office space.
“Any discussion of creating a space in which our employees can collaborate and participate is offered on top of the flexibility of the employees,” Severson said in the statement. “Employee retention has increased and the time to fill an open position has become shorter due to the flexibility and remote options we have offered our employees since implementing this policy.”
According to reports, Neiman has been considering abandoning its flagship downtown Dallas flagship – a nine-story Renaissance Revival tower built in 1914 – for decades as many of the city’s well-heeled shoppers fled to the suburbs in the 1980s.
“It’s a low-traffic business that doesn’t do a lot of business,” said a source close to the company. Neiman is likely to stick with it, the source added, as the company owns the majority of the building and its corporate identity is tied to Dallas.
Downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus store is something of a city landmark, and insiders fear the low-traffic location could be closed.AP
The employee who filed the complaint admitted that there were rumors that the Dallas store may “shrink”, but management refuses to close it entirely “as a tradition”. Several floors of office space above the store are largely empty.
“Neiman Marcus is an institution in Dallas and [the current management] probably doesn’t want to be loud and cry, ”said a third source directly connected to the company.
Still, a fourth source said, “There has been a lot of discussion about the store closure for a long time.”
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