Barneys New York

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Barneys New York
Company typedepartment store
Founded1923
HeadquartersNew York City, New York industry = Retail
ProductsClothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Websitehttp://www.barneys.com/

Barneys New York is a chain of department stores headquartered in New York City, headed by Judy Collinson, EVP and GMM of the Women's Division and Tom Kalendarian, EVP and GMM for the Men's Division. The chain is comprised of several large stores (dubbed flagships by the company) in New York City, Beverly Hills, and Boston (average size 94,853 square feet (8,810 m2)) and smaller stores, including those who target younger consumers and discount stores (average size 12,133 square feet (1,130 m2)).

Merchandise selections come from a variety of designers including Giorgio Armani, Manolo Blahnik, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Jil Sander, Dries van Noten, Diane von Furstenberg, and Ermenegildo Zegna, as well as Barneys private label merchandise. Barneys typical look consists of bright red awnings and original window displays [dubious – discuss]. The New York and Beverly Hills stores also have on-site restaurants that are operated by third parties.

The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 1996, closed stores in Chelsea and several other locations across the US, and sold the department stores in Japan and Singapore [citation needed]. On December 20, 2004, the Pressman family sold its less than 2% remaining ownership to the Jones Apparel Group, which in turn sold the company in September 2007 to Dubai-based private equity firm Istithmar PJSC for $942.3 million [citation needed].

Manhattan Store history

The company began in 1923, when Barney Pressman opened his first store in Manhattan with the $500 raised by pawning his wife's engagement ring in order to lease a 500-square-foot (46 m2) retail space at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street in Manhattan, which would become the original Barney's store, with 20 ft (6 m) of frontage and an awning identifying the store as "Barney's Clothes." The store was stocked with 40 brand name suits and a big sign with a slogan, "No Bunk, No Junk, No Imitations." Barney's was able to sell tailored clothing at discounted prices by purchasing showroom samples, retail overstocks, manufacturers' closeouts at auctions and bankruptcy sales. It also offered free alterations and free parking to attract customers. As business grew, eventually three floors above street level, starting in 1934, would be gradually added to the store.

Barney Pressman claimed to be the first Manhattan retailer to use radio and television, beginning with "Calling All Men to Barney's" radio spots in the 1930s that parodied the introduction of the Dick Tracy show. He sponsored radio programs featuring Irish tenors and bands playing jigs to advertise Irish woolens. Outside of broadcast media, he was more eccentric in promoting his store. Women encased in barrels gave away matchbooks with the store name and address. He even chartered a boat to take 2,000 of his customers from Manhattan to Coney Island.

For decades Barney's was known for cut-rate men's suits. By 1964, the store started to shed its discount image and went upscale. In a 1973 interview to Business Week, Fred Pressman became "convinced that the discount route definitely was not for us. My father and I have always hated cheap goods.... I didn't want to sell low-end merchandise. Now, many of those who chose to are verging on bankruptcy."

The original four-level store was expanded in 1970 when another story to the original store and a five-story addition was erected adjacent to the original store. The original store was renamed America House and the addition was named International House. The expanded store finally occupied the entire Seventh Avenue block where it began (between 16th and 17th streets), with 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of selling space and 20 individual shops.

International House, Fred Pressman promised, would feature complete collections of European designers, "from denim pants to $250 suits," not just a watered-down "potpourri of fabrics and models." The renovated America House, he said, would hold merchandise from "manufacturers who are in effect designers."

By 1973, the store was stocking 60,000 suits, 1,500 times the number when it first opened in the 500-square-foot (46 m2) leased space 50 years earlier. It carried the full lines of designers such as Bill Blass, Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, and Hubert de Givenchy. It became the first clothing store in the U.S. to stock the full line of Giorgio Armani, after signing an exclusive agreement in 1976. The twice-a-year warehouse sale, which attracted enough customers to line up outside the store, took care of overstocked inventory.

Women's clothing was introduced in 1976, on the third floor of the International House, with fashions from more than 20 designer houses represented. The next year, the women's store relocated to The Penthouse, a new top-level enclosure. Barney's also added housewares, cosmetics, and gift departments to the store during this period. Also in 1977, The Pub, Barney's in-store restaurant serving only carved roast beef, was renamed The Cafe and began offering salads, soup, and other sandwiches.

The apostrophe in Barney's was dropped by 1979, and about 1981 the removal became official. (The removal of the apostrophe would be short lived--it was reinserted around the end of the decade.) In 1981 the women's penthouse became a duplex. 80% of the women's merchandise was imported, compared to 40% of the men's merchandise. After a delay two years, the $25 million, 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) women's store finally opened in 1986 in a row of six restored townhouses and two larger adjacent buildings across the store along 17th Street. The addition included a unisex beauty salon and restaurant, antiques, and accessories, gifts, and housewares boutiques. It accounted for about one-third of Barneys' sales of some $90 million the following year.

In 1988 Barneys opened a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) men's store in the World Financial Center. Five years later, in 1993, the store moved to the current 230,000-square-foot (21,000 m2), 9-story Manhattan flagship on Madison Avenue between East 60th and 61st streets. It was the largest new store in New York City since the Great Depression. The store is housed in a 22-story building with 14 floors of offices above the store. The wood floors, a marble mosaic on the lobby floor, gold-leaf ceilings, and lacquered walls of the new Barney's store cost $267 million, according to one source. The Madison Avenue store did well in its posh locale when it opened despite stiff competition from other nearby luxury stores on Fifth Avenue at the expense of the downtown World Financial Center store [dubious – discuss].

Barneys New York Flagship/Regional Stores

Barneys started opening locations outside of Manhattan around 1988. The first store outside the U.S. opened in Tokyo in late 1990.

California

Illinois

  • Chicago - Oak Street (50,000 square feet (4,600 m2), opened 1992)/ New location 2009 (100,000 square feet (9,300 m2))

Massachusetts

Nevada

New York

Texas

Washington

Flagship stores are also slated to open in Scottsdale at Scottsdale Fashion Square (65,000 square feet (6,000 m2), 2009) and Syosset, New York (date TBD).

Barneys also has three locations in Japan in the Ginza district of Tokyo, the Shinjuku district of Tokyo and the city of Yokohama. These stores are operated under license by the Sumitomo Corporation. Michael Celestino (BNY Sr VP) had denied rumors of upcoming stores in Europe. On September 22006, The Financial Times reported that Barneys New York will open its first company-operated European location in West London.[1] The store will be an anchor in Westfield London, which is currently being developed by Australian company, Westfield Group. The location has not been formally announced.

Barneys Outlet Stores

California

  • Cabazon - Desert Hills Premium Outlets
  • Camarillo
  • Carlsbad
  • Napa Valley

Connecticut

  • Clinton

Florida

Hawaii

  • Waipahu

Massachusetts

  • Wrentham

New York

  • Central Valley
  • Riverhead

Texas

Virginia

Barneys CO-OP

Barneys CO-OP offers casual apparel and accessories for a younger market in a casual environment. CO-OP originally began as a department within the larger Barneys New York stores, but is now a freestanding concept located in several markets throughout the US. CO-OP concept stores average 8,212 square feet (760 m2).

California

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Maryland

Michigan

New Jersey

New York

Texas

Washington, D.C.

Locations coming soon include Philadelphia (2008)

Pop culture references

  • References in the NYC-set sitcom Will & Grace are a recurring theme of the show. Character Karen Walker (Megan Mullaly) visits the store on a regular basis. In one episode, all protagonists end up at the Barneys warehouse sale. In three episodes, Barneys was featured as the place where character Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) worked. In two of those episodes, Parker Posey played his boss, Dorleen. In the third, Jack gets hit in the head at work, and, in a dream sequence, Cher gives him career advice.
  • In an episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Secretary", character Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) goes to Barneys to return a dress which did not look as good on her outside the store as it did on her in the store. During her return she tries on another dress, but is not sure if the dress really looks good on her or not and accuses the store of using "skinny mirrors." In order to get an unbiased reflection, she walks out of the store wearing the dress. Later, she is forced to buy the dress because she gets salt stains on it from walking in the snow.
  • In the HBO series Entourage, character Turtle buys an $1000+ pajama outfit to wear to a party at the Playboy Mansion. Although he intends to return it after the party, Turtle ruins the outfit by colliding into a body-painted model and is unable to take it back to the store.
  • In the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm", actor and writer Larry David often visits Barneys New York to cloth himself.
  • Barneys New York is referenced in the 2004 animated film Shrek 2.
  • In the Shopaholic Series books by author Sophie Kinsella (Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Shopaholic Ties The Knot), the heroine of the books gets a job as a personal shopper at Barneys New York.
  • In the Gossip Girl Novel books by Cecily von Ziegesar, many of the characters are known to shop at Barneys New York and many scenes are set there as well. In the novels, the character Serena van der Woodsen recently landed the lead role of Holly Golightly (originally played by Blair's role model Audrey Hepburn) in Ken Mogul's remake of Breakfast at Tiffany's, entitled "Breakfast At Fred's." Fred's is the restaurant located on the top floor of Barney's.
  • Barneys New York is referenced in the Adam Sandler film, "Big Daddy". After Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) receives much criticism from peers on his parenting skills, he takes his 5 year old roommate to Barneys New York for matching white suits.
...
He called me up and said "she has needs"
I said "you'll find 'em on Barneys fourth floor"
...

References

  1. ^ Pickard, Jim (2006-09-02), Barneys to open first London store, Financial Times {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

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