SAKS principal activity is to operate traditional and luxury department stores through subsidiaries. SAKS operates through SAKS Fifth Avenue Enterprises, which includes SAKS Fifth Avenue luxury department stores (54 stores in 25 US states), as well as 50 outlet stores in 23 US states and SAKS.com.

KHC's interest in SAKS Inc was acquired in 1993 in a private investment in public equity transaction. It was a strategic investment, as the SAKS brand was considered by KHC to be ideal for expansion, particularly within the increasingly affluent and brand conscious markets of the Middle East. Following the investment, Prince Alwaleed persuaded SAKS to establish the first SAKS Fifth Avenue store outside the United States. The store was opened in 2001 as an anchor tenant of the Company's Al Mamlaka shopping mall in the Kingdom Centre.

Based upon its positive experience in Riyadh, KHC intends to open additional SAKS stores in the Middle East and plans to include a SAKS store in its Jeddah development and, in the future, will seek to expand beyond Saudi Arabia, potentially in Dubai and Beirut.