Saks Unveils Plan for Casino Atop Its Flagship Manhattan Store

Lisa Fickenscher, reporting for The New York Post:

Saks Fifth Avenue finally tipped its hand, confirming plans to bid for a casino license on the top floors of its flagship store on Fifth Avenue. [...]

The renderings show stylishly dressed guests, seated at roulette tables, posh bars and upholstered chairs, clinking cocktails. They enter the building via a separate entrance on a red carpet that extends out onto the sidewalk and opens into a vast lobby area with multiple chandeliers and plush decorative rugs.

The casino would take up three floors, starting on the ninth, where servers will be dressed in black tie and hand out champagne flutes to gamblers, Richard Baker, executive chairman and chief executive of HBC, the Toronto-based company that owns Saks told The Post. [...]

The stylish Saks casino would be similar to the one featured in the James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” according to Baker. “In Monte Carlo they have fancy casinos so why not in Manhattan,” Baker said. “Why should Manhattan have another slobby casino. … We need spectacular.”

What a grand idea. I love a nice casino but most casinos are anything but nice.

★ Friday, 13 January 2023