The Barneys flagship on Madison Avenue is one of the company's seven remaining stores and also one of its most iconic, serving as a cultural touchpoint in beloved television series like "Sex and the City" and "Friends."
The store is expected to be fully liquidated and shuttered by the end of 2019.
As we approached, we spotted bright red and yellow sale signs in the windows, with the cheeky statement "goodbuys before goodbyes."
"Barneys is a cultural institution synonymous with high-end fashion, creative style and grace," Scott Carpenter — president of retail solutions at Great American Group, the company overseeing the liquidation sale — said in a press release. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for its most loyal customers to buy items that rarely go on sale at markdown prices."
We also saw this sign alerting passersby that everything must be sold.
Once inside, we were immediately struck by just how minimal the sales actually were. $2,137 down from $2,250 ... what a steal?
In the student-run blog NYU Local, writer Izzie Ramirez referred to the liquidation as a "fake sale," pointing out some of the most expensive items and their marginal corresponding discounts — including a $39,350 crocodile skin bag, on sale for $37,382.50.
Not much of a bargain here, either.
Though Barneys had clearly worked to maintain a luxurious veneer even as it liquidates, we saw a few signs of disarray, like this this pile of sales tags.
In the handbag section, we saw this Burberry fanny pack available at a 5% discount.
So many posh bags, such small discounts.
We noticed that many of the sales tags were completely blank, leaving shoppers to guess at the discount.
Up in women's apparel, we found even more blank tags, including this one stuck to a rogue bag positioned among miscellaneous shoes missing their counterparts.
There was not a sales sign in sight on the lower level, home to beauty products, cosmetics, and fragrances.
Eventually we had to ask if products on this floor were on sale at all, and we learned that everything except for LVMH-owned cosmetics was 5% off.
On other floors, we continued to find more generic sales signs on the floor, but no further details on discounts.
Some areas were slightly more organized and informative, like this area that clearly denoted a rack as 10% off ...
As we wandered through the store, we spotted more signs of demise including boxes of hangers and messy displays on the floor.
There were also products missing from certain areas, including a lost boot from this display in the shoe department.
Similar to the beauty department, the outerwear section showed no demarcation of sales or liquidation, which was confusing.
The same was true for women's contemporary apparel.
Aside from this sign, we had no idea which sales were taking place in the men's department.
Other sections were just seemingly marked down at random and used inconsistent signage ...
... like this pile of fur hats.
Household goods and decor, located next to Fred's restaurant on the top floor, was among the most busy areas.
That was perhaps because it was clear that the entire floor was 10% off — no room for confusion.
Here were some more discounted home goods.
We left without buying anything because even at 5% off, it was just too expensive. But we can't deny it's truly the end of an era.
