Update: Barneys, Global Symbol of Creative Cool, Files for BK

[gdale6]

• 100-year-old New York luxury department store is struggling
• Statement: ‘Our customers remain our top priority’

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/13/barneys-explores-bankruptcy-filing

[grower1]

A sad sign of the times 

[DaveInAZ]

"Barneys is exploring a bankruptcy filing as it struggles with high rents and changing consumer tastes"

- Well, I don't think Barneys lost too many customers to Amazon or Wayfair, and the well heeled are doing just fine in this economy. They must still be trying to sell gold plated, diamond encrusted Rolodex watches when folks just really want a fitbit.

[CreditCuriosity]

Barney's IMO is just to expensive for alot of people that dont live in excess.  either adapt with the times of be a legacy

[Anonymous]

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@pizza1 wrote:
Thanks for the post!! I think all the higher end stores are probably struggling to some degree...Neiman's, Bergdorf, Blooms, even Nordstrom (their shares just dropped drastically). Not too many folks can afford to shop at Barneys or the like's so I can't say Im too surprised to hear this.

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@pizza1   How in the world am I suppose to look handsome and keep up my good looks when there are not stores that can 'dress me for success'? Oh yeah, need a face lift too!

[Anonymous]

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@pizza1 wrote:
Thanks for the post!! I think all the higher end stores are probably struggling to some degree...Neiman's, Bergdorf, Blooms, even Nordstrom (their shares just dropped drastically). Not too many folks can afford to shop at Barneys or the like's so I can't say Im too surprised to hear this.

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I wonder if it's not so much that they can't afford it but they just choose not to buy it.  Times have changed since that store first opened a lot of multi millionaires and up don't dress lavishly like they did when that store first opened look at how steve jobs and zuckerberg dress...they look (or in the case of jobs looked) like average people and not billionaires.  

[tacpoly]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@pizza1 wrote:
Thanks for the post!! I think all the higher end stores are probably struggling to some degree...Neiman's, Bergdorf, Blooms, even Nordstrom (their shares just dropped drastically). Not too many folks can afford to shop at Barneys or the like's so I can't say Im too surprised to hear this.

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I wonder if it's not so much that they can't afford it but they just choose not to buy it.  Times have changed since that store first opened a lot of multi millionaires and up don't dress lavishly like they did when that store first opened look at how steve jobs and zuckerberg dress...they look (or in the case of jobs looked) like average people and not billionaires.  

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Don't let the casualness of those millionaires/billionaires fool you; they might be wearing Loro Piana or Brunello Cucinelli hoodies.  Zuckerberg's t-shirts are Brunello Cucinellis and cost almost $300 a piece.  Brunello Cucinelli also made Steve Jobs' turtlenecks.  Heck, even Bruce Springsteen, the working man's poet, buys stacks of cashmere sweaters.  

Barney's may not have customer numbers, but the customers they (and similar stores) targeted spend a lot of money. 

As a former Barney's shopper, I can say that Barneys lost their good buyers (the people who decide which merchandise the stores will carry) with the change in management a few years ago.  It really affected inventory, which went from really exciting and innovative to stocking what everyone else had.  I'm not a browser, but it was fun looking walking around at Barney's and discovering new designers that you wouldn't see at the other stores (that's hard to do in Manhattan).  When that stopped, I went to Barney's less often and eventually almost none at all (the same with my friends and family).  When I did go, there just weren't much I wanted to get.    

[Anonymous]

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@tacpoly wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@pizza1 wrote:
Thanks for the post!! I think all the higher end stores are probably struggling to some degree...Neiman's, Bergdorf, Blooms, even Nordstrom (their shares just dropped drastically). Not too many folks can afford to shop at Barneys or the like's so I can't say Im too surprised to hear this.

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I wonder if it's not so much that they can't afford it but they just choose not to buy it.  Times have changed since that store first opened a lot of multi millionaires and up don't dress lavishly like they did when that store first opened look at how steve jobs and zuckerberg dress...they look (or in the case of jobs looked) like average people and not billionaires.  

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Don't let the casualness of those millionaires/billionaires fool you; they might be wearing Loro Piana or Brunello Cucinelli hoodies.  Zuckerberg's t-shirts are Brunello Cucinellis and cost almost $300 a piece.  Brunello Cucinelli also made Steve Jobs' turtlenecks.  

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This is somehting I just don't get, and probably never will. I just can't see paying extra for a name, T-shirts are t-shirts. A 5PK of Hanes for $15 means $285 in my pocket. Even if I ever had the income Zuckerberg does, or any Millionaire, I can't ever see myself paying that much on one item of clothing. Especially not casual wear! I have spent a decent amount on Dressy threads though, like a 3 piece. 

I too have noticed that people don't dress up like they used to. Kind of a shame really, in nice places you get someone wearing sweats/pj's.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous   sure do share your comment! "I too have noticed that people don't dress up like they used to. Kind of a shame really, in nice places you get someone wearing sweats/pj's". 

[tacpoly]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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This is somehting I just don't get, and probably never will. I just can't see paying extra for a name, T-shirts are t-shirts. A 5PK of Hanes for $15 means $285 in my pocket. Even if I ever had the income Zuckerberg does, or any Millionaire, I can't ever see myself paying that much on one item of clothing. Especially not casual wear! I have spent a decent amount on Dressy threads though, like a 3 piece. 

I too have noticed that people don't dress up like they used to. Kind of a shame really, in nice places you get someone wearing sweats/pj's.

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Hmmm...I've seen people as they became millionaires (dot.com boom and IPOs) and pretty much everyone upped the level of their spending by amount and quality/luxury.  I know only 3 people who didn't.  

While they may look similar, the quality of material and construction of a Brunello Cucinelli t-shirt is well above that of a Hanes; this isn't just a matter of slapping on a designer name.  And while you question the wisdom of spending that much money on a t-shirt, it may turn out to be a better bargain than your "dressy threads" if you calculate cost per wear.