[10] Lord & Taylor faced economic troubles after the Panic of 1873, though the original partners gave the company "a large loan" in 1879.

[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The Lord & Taylor Building, the Starrett & van Vleck-designed Fifth Avenue store and headquarters opened between 38th and 39th streets on February 24, 1914.

In 1945, Dorothy Shaver became the first woman to head a major retail establishment in the United States as president of Lord & Taylor.

[23] As vice president working with the well-known design firm of Raymond Loewy Associates, she opened what is credited as the first-ever branch store, in Manhasset, New York.

[30] Under the leadership of CEO Joseph E. Brooks during the 1970s, the company aggressively expanded into Texas, Illinois, and Michigan; throughout the 1980s, South Florida saw 11 stores opened in quick succession.

[41] On January 12, 2006, Federated chairman, president, and CEO Terry Lundgren announced that Lord & Taylor would be sold by the end of the year.

[44] Federated continued to service Lord & Taylor consumer credit accounts in an agreement with NRDC under the terms of its sale until mid-2007.

The combined HBC, as of February 2018, consisted of Hudson's Bay and Home Outfitters in Canada, Galeria Kaufhof in Germany, and Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue in the United States.

During this time, locations such as Manhasset, Garden City, Bala Cynwyd, Eastchester, and Stamford all saw ultra-modern style renovations and upgrades.

Around this time, a store was announced to open alongside Saks Fifth Avenue in the luxury wing of the American Dream Mall.

WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor.

Industry observers connected the sale of the flagship store to intense activist investors and opportunity seen to monetize real estate at HBC.

[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] On April 1, 2018, the Hudson's Bay Company gave notice of the theft of customers' credit and debit cards due to a hacking incident.

A hacking group known as JokerStash or Fin7 attempted to sell the information from five million stolen customer credentials on dark web sites during the last week of March 2018.

The Hudson's Bay Company noted that customers would not be liable for any charges incurred due to this breach, and they will offer no-cost credit report monitoring and identity protection services.

[69] In November 2019, the sale to Le Tote was finalized and it was reported that all 38 Lord & Taylor brick-and-mortar locations would transfer ownership.

[76] On August 2, 2020, Lord & Taylor and Le Tote had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

[89] In October 2020, the investment firm Saadia Group acquired Lord & Taylor; they transformed the retailer into a digital-first format.

[92] In August 2021, it was announced that SaksWorks, a partnership with WeWork and a spinoff of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, would provide co-working spaces for technology startups and services for other enterprises.

It was predicted that SaksWorks would fill about 90% of the former Lord & Taylor brick-and-mortar locations since Hudson's Bay Company still owned the real estate of the properties.