When people think Saks 5th Avenue they tend to picture an idyllic stroll along the namesake byway in front of its flagship store in midtown Manhattan, bundled up against 'ol Jack Frost as cascading snow flurries are whipped around by vagrant eddys every which-way.  Hell, maybe that's just what I picture.  Truth be told, I've never even shopped there, so what the hell would I know about it?

I do know this -- Saks 5th Avenue & their fake-me-out offshoot, OFF 5th, are very skilled at picking the right spots for their physical store locations, as their sales figures have consistently shown them to do as well or better than comparable retailers' brick & mortar outlets.  They also have one of the best ad campaigns I've ever seen, aimed at folks who are excessively acqusitive -- WANT IT.  Gee whiz, that's good.  Straight out of "Mad Men" good.

Beyond that, we're starting to see signs reminding us that it's the most wonderful time of the year (for retailers) and their very successful catalog sales are liable to pick up just in time for a nice peak as Santa comes calling.