Barneys New York History

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The Company Description of Its Time

Barneys New York is a chain of upscale department stores headquartered in New York City, and its historical profile is really two records in one: a long historical narrative of how a discount suit shop became a luxury name, and a short, dated news head recording the end of that independence. The news comes first: on August 6, 2019 Barneys filed for Chapter 11, closing in Chicago, Las Vegas and Seattle, with twelve concept and warehouse locations also closing, while the stores on Madison Avenue in New York, Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Boston would remain open. Following its sale in November 2019, Authentic Brands Group took control of the Barneys brand name and licensed it to Saks Fifth Avenue - the arrangement behind the Barneys at Saks name.

From $500 and 40 Suits to International House

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, leasing a 500-square-foot retail space at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street with 20 feet 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 the slogan 'No Bunk, No Junk, No Imitations.' Barney's sold tailored clothing at discounted prices by purchasing showroom samples, retail overstocks, manufacturers' closeouts at auctions and bankruptcy sales, and offered free alterations and free parking to attract customers. 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.

By 1964 the store began shedding its discount image and going upscale - Fred Pressman's 1973 Business Week words survive: 'I didn't want to sell low-end merchandise.' The expanded store eventually occupied the entire Seventh Avenue block where it began, with 100,000 square feet of selling space; by 1973 it was stocking 60,000 suits and carrying 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 US to stock the full line of Giorgio Armani, after signing an exclusive agreement in 1976, and women's clothing was introduced the same year. The middle record is also kept: the company filed for Chapter 11 in 1996, the Pressman family sold its remaining ownership to the Jones Apparel Group in 2004, and Dubai-based Istithmar PJSC acquired Barneys from Jones on September 7, 2007, at $942.3 million.

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