A new store by Saks Fifth Avenue is slated to open at Ala Moana Center next spring but won’t be a full-line department store for the New York-based luxury fashion retailer.

Saks clarified Friday that its plan to move into the state’s largest shopping center involves a 41,000-square-foot OFF 5TH, the discount outlet of Saks.

The planned store will occupy part of the ground floor of a 210,000-square-foot space spanning three levels in the mall’s mauka wing vacated last week by Nordstrom, which simultaneously opened a new 185,000-square-foot store in a new Ewa wing that also includes Hawaii’s first Bloomingdale’s store, which opened in November.

Local retail industry analyst Stephany Sofos said bringing in OFF 5TH is a way for Ala Moana to increase the interest of discount shoppers.

“A lot of people say Ala Moana is too expensive, too pricey,” she said. “Ala Moana is trying to provide all aspects of shopping towards the consumers so they can keep their market share.”

Sofos also said the store’s location fronting Kapiolani Boulevard and Keeaumoku Street will create a triangle of discount stores with nearby Walmart, Sam’s Club and Ross Dress for Less farther up Keeaumoku. “I think it’s a good move,” she said.

Jonathan Greller, president of the off-price division for Saks’ Canadian parent Hudson’s Bay Co., said in a statement that Ala Moana is a perfect location to expand and better serve Honolulu.

“Ala Moana Center is a prime tourist destination for travelers around the world,” he said. “The new Saks OFF 5TH store will offer Hawaii another exceptional destination to shop for true fashion at real value.”

Earlier this week the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Saks had signed a lease for the former Nordstrom space based on a memorandum of a lease filed by Saks at the Bureau of Conveyances. The memorandum did not indicate that only a part of the former Nordstrom space was being leased.

The expansion by Saks will give the retailer two OFF 5TH stores in Hawaii. The other is at Waikele Center. Saks also is building an 80,000-square-foot full-line department store at a redeveloped International Market Place in Waikiki slated to open in August.

Worldwide, Saks operates 38 full-line department stores and 90 discount outlets.

Scott Creel, senior marketing manager for the mall, said Ala Moana’s owner, General Growth Properties Inc., is happy to welcome OFF 5TH as a new tenant. He said the ground-level store will have an entrance that connects to the mall’s second level. Creel said he could not comment on what is envisioned for the remaining empty space of the former Nordstrom store.

Sofos said she expects General Growth will further cut up the space into smaller pieces for other retailers and restaurants, though that would leave the mauka wing, which was added in 2008 with Nordstrom as a big draw, without a major anchor tenant.

The OFF 5TH store is what the retail industry regards as a “junior anchor.” Ala Moana’s anchor tenants among roughly 340 stores and restaurants are four department stores: Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.