Data, merchandising are among areas the company is tackling in tie-up.

The merger between Saks and Neiman Marcus still has more opportunities ahead as the future of the downtown Dallas site is still under discussion.

"We continue to work with the city of Dallas on reimagining what it can be," Emily Essner, president and chief commercial officer of Saks Global, said in an interview, declining further comment on specifics.

The downtown store was set to close at the end of March after weeks of back-and-forth between city and business officials and the company amid a lease dispute. Yet an 11th-hour announcement staved off the shuttering -- with the site set to be kept open through the holiday shopping of 2025.

The store is preparing for a new future with options that could include "a luxury retail experience" along with a curated art exhibition and a fashion and event center.

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Saks Global announced late last year the finalization of the acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group for an enterprise value of $2.7 billion. The merger brought together two heavyweights in the luxury department market amid pressure from online options and shifting shopping preferences.

The combined entity has about 70 retail locations. Some metropolitan areas, such as Dallas, have only Neiman Marcus, and some, like New Orleans, only feature Saks.

Essner noted the importance of North Texas customers with the planned remodel of the store at NorthPark Center in Dallas. The upgrade was unveiled in February.

In her role, Essner's duties include oversight of merchandising, marketing, analytics, e-commerce and stores. The integration of the teams is "largely done," she said. Among the leadership team, there's a roughly 50-50 split between the people who came from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. That was intentional but not hard to do, she said. Former Neiman Marcus leader Geoffrey van Raemdonck, who had been CEO since 2018, departed shortly after the merger was finalized.

One of the key areas of the merger was the integration of the merchandising systems and is being rolled out in phases over the coming months. That is "incredibly critical to our strategy" as it enables Saks to share inventory across its brands.

"We're able to meet a lot more customer demand, really serve our customers better." Essner said.

Data is another area of focus as Saks Global works on customer identity and personalization. That kind of information is a crucial effort that will continue over the next several months.

It's a lot of data with roughly 30 million customers.

"Our strategy is really based on the idea of personalization, being able to serve you exactly what you're looking for," Essner said. "And so having a really good understanding of who that customer is and what their behavior is -- is really important."

Saks leader: Work on downtown Neiman's future continues as merger shows progress