Extremely familiar with Saks in NYC and other locations so I was very excited to see it open here. So.. today I browsed the ladies shoes. A few cheaper options -- some very nice brands and ok selection but only not as good as I would have expected. Overall you could go across to Town Shoes and find at least 50% of same brands. Surprising.
I finally looked for a clerk to get me a size, but it was busy and they seemed very short staffed. It seemed the same as when it was The Bay, but now it's Saks!! I expect more! I didn't feel like waiting 15-20 mins to try shoes so I left.
Checked out clothes - many very nice brands so happy about that. Not too busy upstairs which was also nice.
One last thing on experience - they have a doorman at the Queen St entrance. Nice touch! However the doorman also needs to be part of the Saks experience -- I watched a very elderly, well dressed couple leaving the store struggle to open the heavy outside door. The doorman stood there watching but without moving from 5-10 ft away while he opened and closed the INSIDE door for people. Call me picky but being the DOORman and all, I thought he should have pounced on that right away and helped them out.
So.... overall reaction is there are a few growing pains to work out.
To Saks management - please keep your eye on the high quality customer experience, and please don't water down brands to suit what you think is a middle of the road customer. There are lots of us that want finer things and will pay handsomely.
Still excited it's here though. I will be back again.