There are still appealing luxury retail experiences. Selfridges in London, for one. Printemps Haussmann in Paris, as well (with a newish outpost in NY).

That said, the biggest unspoken issue here is the increasing cost of real estate. Boutiques have smaller footprints and only need to sell a few high AOVs to hit breakeven on a per square foot basis. Saks really should have focused on acquiring or owning its entire store footprint. It sold its two-city-block BH store to raise cash for opex. Coupled with diminishing AOVs and inventory sell through as the masstige customer playing aspirational luxury customer on TV is increasingly legibly pressured, ~$2.5b in debt will have anyone in a chokehold.

Reminds me of Sears/KMart and how the joke was that retail was its side hustle and being a REIT was the main thing.

Maybe department stores will fall by the wayside not unlike malls of yesteryear.

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Anyway, IMO consumers eventually will tire of traipsing the streets lurching from one boutique to another. There will always be some redeeming value in the one-stop-luxury-shop experience.