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Saks Off 5th is scheduled to close its store at Stamford Town Center mall in Stamford, Conn., on Dec. 18, 2021.

Saks Off 5th is scheduled to close its store at Stamford Town Center mall in Stamford, Conn., on Dec. 18, 2021.

STAMFORD — Saks Off 5th’s last day of operations at Stamford Town Center will be Dec. 18, the department store’s parent company has confirmed.

The closing will culminate a six-and-a-half-year run for one of the downtown shopping center’s anchor tenants. It opened in June 2015 — taking more than 56,000 square feet in a section of the mall’s fourth and fifth floors that had been occupied by a Saks Fifth Avenue store before its closing in 2014.

“After careful consideration, Saks Off 5th has decided to close its Stamford location,” Saks Off 5th said in a statement about the closing when it was announced in September. “Through the regular course of business, we continually evaluate store performance and other factors, and, from time to time, may determine it necessary to close a store.”

Stamford Town Center’s management declined to comment on the closing.

To clear inventory, the store has been holding a closing sale since September.

After the closure, the nearest Saks Off 5th store to Stamford will be in White Plains, N.Y. The nearest Saks Fifth Avenue store is on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, accompanied by several neighboring specialty Saks stores.

Saks Off 5th and Saks Fifth Avenue are owned by Hudson’s Bay Co. Saks Off 5th operates as a discount-based alternative to luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue.

The exit of Saks Off 5th will mark the second department store closing in Stamford in the past year. In late February, the bankrupt Lord + Taylor closed its store in an approximately 160,000-square-foot standalone building at 110 High Ridge Road. It had operated since 1969.

Between late last year and early this year, Lord + Taylor also shut down its Connecticut stores at Westfield Trumbull, Danbury Fair and Westfarms malls.

Saks Off 5th’s departure will add to an extensive list of store closings in recent years at Stamford Town Center. Many of those storefronts remain unfilled.

At the same time, the mall has brought in a number of new tenants — including a dance studio, called A Dance Space — and plans to welcome several more in 2022. The upcoming arrivals will include two additions in the mall’s restaurant plaza at 230 Tresser Blvd., Mexican restaurant Puerto Vallarta and Brazilian steakhouse Terra Gaucha.

In addition, the mall still has two other anchor tenants: a Macy’s department store, at the north end of the shopping center, and a Barnes & Noble bookstore at the south end.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott

Paul Schott is a business reporter at Hearst Connecticut Media, writing about the issues affecting small- and medium-sized businesses and large corporations based in southwestern Connecticut, with a focus on Stamford and Greenwich. He previously covered education for Greenwich Time and general assignments for the Westport News. Paul welcomes readers' ideas and suggestions and strives to cultivate a robust dialogue with Hearst Connecticut Media's audience.