Department store Barneys New York is returning to its original Chelsea digs with a new Downtown flagship store. The 57,000-square-foot, five-story store will take up the majority of the Seventh Avenue block between 16th and 17th streets.
“If You Drive by, it will feel and look like a nice bookend to the uptown flagship,” Barneys CEO Mark Lee told Women’s Wear Daily.
Barney Pressman opened the original store at the Chelsea location in 1923 with the $500 he got from pawning his wife’s engagement ring, according to Women’s Wear Daily. The store closed in 1997 after filing for bankruptcy protection.
The new avatar of the store will focus on members of the fairer sex, Lee said. “Men’s is the history, but women’s [clothing] is the significant business today,” Lee said. [WWD] – Hiten Samtani