Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman
I read the Gene Pressman memoir, They All Came to Barneys. All the reviews are true. Pressman takes some accountability for the demise of Barneys, but his arrogant swagger is not attractive. There are countless holes, like the fact that the brother is barely in the book, and they were supposedly partners. The book is about Genes brilliance, including huge respect to Barney (the Grandfather) and Fred (the father) who were incredible merchants. Regardless of the endless ramble, I am glad he wrote the book and that I read it.
The history of Barney’s is NYC’s history. I loved Barney’s. Always innovative. Always taking risks. Always contrarian. The biggest designers today were first carried and nurtured at Barney’s. It was brilliant. And then it wasn’t.
They spent money like drunk sailors without much thought about the bottom line. They always thought sales would save them. Gene had two feet on the gas. After all, he kept thinking of more and more, because he was at heart an entrepreneur, and he couldn’t help himself. I get it.
The real demise was taking capital from the Japanese before the implosion of the loose money market. When they pulled the plug, selling that debt, put Barneys in an eddy of private equity with zero creativity, and the customer stopped coming.
After reading that book, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, about the women who ran Bonwit Teller, Bendels, and Lord and Taylor, in the golden age of department stores between 1930-1960, RIP everyone, I keep asking myself what is going to happen to Bergdorf Goodman (Saks and Macys too)? Bergdorf is a jewel, and nothing else exists like that anymore. And so, I took a trip uptown to see.
The store is empty. Everything is clean and on display. Jewelry is serious bling, but I would imagine that it is all on consignment. After walking the first floor, I went down to the cosmetic floor. On a whim, I decided I would get a makeover. Ends up, you can’t do that anymore unless you book an appointment, so I left and went to the 6th floor.
Each designer has their own space, as they always have, but today it felt more like a showroom than a store. In the days of yore, the woman who waited on me would have been smartly dressed for what she was selling. The woman who waited on me was wearing a sequin pink jacket and clothes that did not fit. She was perfectly lovely but her attire did not match what she was selling and neither did our conversation. No judgement on her but makes me wonder what is HR doing and perhaps the ladies of yesteryear don’t exist anymore.
I strolled into another area and found an item I was interested in, but it didn’t have a price tag. I found a salesperson and she was watching a Marc Rubio video on her phone. You can’t make this up. She couldn’t find the price either, so she got on her phone (Bergdorfs online shop) and tried to find it. I got online too and found it before she did. She was quite confused but then took a photo of my phone for the sku. I had it sent to my house. Bergdorf’s back end CRM is amazing (Oracle based).The sales people are buying for their customers online when it is sent to their home. The only reason to go into Bergdorfs for is to perhaps try on something, or possibly discovery something, but it is all online and you can return. If the sales people were incredible, that would make all the difference in the world, but they are like deer in the headlights.
Who is shopping like this anymore? It’s all the same. Depth in a few designers is nice to see in person vs. the runway or online, but otherwise, what’s special? Nothing.
The difference with Barney’s is that it was special. It was never standard. It was constantly changing, evolving, and exciting. It was merchandised to create discovery, and there was plenty of newness to discover.
The question is what will be left of the Saks, Neimans, and Bergdorf empire? I don’t see how Saks Global can pay off its debt to keep these stores open. It’s like watching a painful, slow train crash.