Bill and Al aren`t the only Baby Boomers glad-handing their way across the country, promising Americans ”something different.”
Gene and Bob Pressman are doing it, too. Except they`re retailers, not politicians, and their campaign is to bring to Americans Who Want A Change two of their very favorite things: good taste and good value.
Gene and Bob are the men on top of Barneys New York, one of that city`s most hip and most haute specialty stores, patronized by celebrities, artsy/
creative types, the nouveau riche and other factions of the ”in” crowd-not to mention the spectators who consider a shopping trip here an
adventure in people-watching.
If the Brothers Pressman have it their way, they`ll be the men on top of Barneys The World, as they continue an effort started four years ago to roll out satellite stores across the U.S. and in Japan.
Come Sept. 8, the Gene-and-Bob show rolls into the heart of the Midwest and up onto the corner of Oak and Rush Streets. Here, No. 14 and the largest- to-date of the Barneys solar system opens, giving Chicago a Goliath in Gold Coast boutiqueland, the first major fashion store since Nordstrom checked in in 1991 and, most notably, a first taste of all that highly touted Pressman Good Taste.
Frick and Frack
”Oh my God, he`s got a suit on,” quips Bob, 38, pointing his finger and his barb at brother, Gene, 41, while the two pile into a tight elevator outside their 7th Avenue offices across the street from the New York flagship store.
”I`m trying to be like you,” responds the elder, adjusting his Barneys New York private label silk knit tie and a playful smirk at the same time.
”You`re going to have to do a lot more than that to be me,” Bob bellows back.
Now, now boys-or is it Frick and Frack?
The comedy duo may have more in common.
Gene (”studied motion pictures and softball” at Syracuse University, former gofer in Hollywood) is hip and high-strung. Bob (studied business at Boston University, MBA from Pace University) is the quiet, haute type.
Gene is a fitness fanatic. And a fighter. One overzealous morning, he knocked his boxing coach`s tooth out. Russell, the coach, took it well; he broke Gene`s rib, and the two were friends once more. Bob, on the other hand, does wrist exercises in his office-that `ol skiing accident, you know.
Gene likes to come to work (and even to dressy cocktail parties in Paris) in jeans and a blazer. Bob prefers to toil in Italian suits.
Gene handles the creative end of the business-the merchandising and marketing. Bob handles the money.
Thus, all the yin-yang, all the Frick-and-Frackery works.
In fact, it works so well that Barneys saw increases in June and July
(its best months ever, they say)-increases that other retailers haven`t seen since the glory days of the `80s. ”Double-digit increases (over last year),” Bob declares.
”Much, much more than double-digit increases,” Gene spews.
”The only thing bigger than double is triple,” Bob laughs.
Back to Gene: ”OK, we`re talking about big increases.”
Bob: ”Let`s just say significant double-digit increases.”
Gene: ”Yeah. Significant.”
What`s it all about
For the uninitiated or just plain unfamiliar, Barneys New York is known for a lot of things and for one thing in particular: the specialness of its merchandise.
The Calvin Klein menswear found nowhere else. The exquisite French lingerie that`s hard to find outside of France. The soaps made in a monastery in Florence. The cashmere scarf and mitten sets for baby. The parade of chichi designer labels.
What can Chicagoans expect?
”Energy. EN-ER-GY,” says a pithy Donna Karan. ”Chicago is a happening town, a happening place and Barneys is going to add to it.”
Great expectations
Expect: a four-story store (three stories of actual ”store” totaling 50,000 square feet, one floor of offices above) with a French limestone facade offering a contemporary European look, a Marcel Breuer-inspired interior spiral staircase connecting the floors and antiques serving as display cabinets.
Expect: The same ”understated,” as the Brothers like to label it, fashion as found in the New York store-the updated classic styling with a penchant for classic neutral colors.
Expect: The same insightful (and often inciteful) store windows.
”In New York we treat the windows almost as being a magazine of events going on in New York,” says Simon Doonan, Barneys vice president, creative director. ”It will be the same in Chicago. We`re going to feature a lot of Chicago artists and represent the culture of the community. The element of surprise and the element of wit are very important. People can expect to see that maintained.”
For the opening, some of the eight windows will showcase a ”visual history of Barneys, predominantly told in advertising” from the earliest pictures of the store on through the current ads shot by hot New York photographer Steven Meisel; others will feature ”an amusing collage of special event-related pictures.”
Great non-expectations
But, don`t expect: A trumped-up opening gala. ”We don`t have opening parties. It`s not our style,” says Gene, who, along with Bob, will be in town when the doors swing open.
So will the rest of the family in this third-generation family business.
(Gene`s wife, Bonnie, a former Ford model, is general merchandise manager for accessories, shoes and cosmetics. Bob`s wife, Holly, a former investment manager at Morgan Stanley and Co., is corporate program and investment director. Sister Elizabeth is children`s buyer. Sister Nancy buys for women`s contemporary. Mother Phyllis is general merchandise manager of Chelsea Passage, the home accessories department. And Father Fred, the former man at the top, retains the title ”chairman” and is known to make himself known on the sales floor of the flagship store.)
Most of all, though, don`t expect: Bob and Gene to be willing to rattle off the much-awaited-for list of designers they`ll be bringing to Chicago.
Name-dropping
”I don`t get enamored by just designer names. You`ve got boutiques that have that stuff already,” says Gene, getting a tad hot under his made-to-measure collar. ”They (customers) need Barneys for everything. They don`t need Barneys just for that. It`s not a designer contest.”
”Everything” is the carefully edited merchandise mix that the Brothers Pressman refer to again and again as the secret to their success.
”Our mix is very unique to us, and that`s why we have a reason to exist,” says Gene.
The Brothers, alas, did concede a list of ”names,” noting more will be added ”as we go along.”
For women, that list includes: Prada, Azzedine Alaia, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Franco Moschino, Herve Leger, Manolo Blahnik, Stephane Kelian and Robert Clergerie.
For men: Gianfranco Ferre, Cerruti, Piattelli, Mariano Rubinacci, Gieves & Hawkes, Oxxford, Shamask, Donna Karan, Dries Van Noten, Fujiwara, Paul Smith and Kilgour, French & Stanbury. For fall/winter, Barneys has the Chicago exclusive on the new men`s Calvin Klein Collection.
Mix masters
Rounding out the merchandise mix (and offering more palatable price points) is a host of ”smaller” names which Barneys makes it a point to cultivate as a creative alternative to what Gene calls ”the commercially oriented bridge lines that every department store carries.”
And, of course, there`s the Barneys New York private label merchandise, created and developed by Gene and his buyers. It comprises a whopping 40 percent of the merchandise mix in New York and will be present in the same ratio in Chicago.
”We treat our label with respect,” says Gene. ”It`s a brand label for us, you know. There`s a lot of effort going into making beautiful merchandise that fills the void in prices. We`re not the cheapest. We don`t want to be the cheapest.”
Value is what counts.
”Some of the things we`ll carry are going to be very expensive,” says Gene, ”but everything will have a value to it. If it`s expensive, it`s going to look expensive.”
Yes, there really is a Barney
The ”Barney” in Barneys New York is the man responsible for creating what is now one of the largest specialty stores in the world, with `92 sales projected at $200 million encompassing the 12 domestic stores.
In 1923, as the story goes, Barney Pressman took his wife`s advice and pawned her engagement ring to raise the $500 he needed to open a men`s store on 7th Avenue and 17th Street in Downtown Manhattan. His strategy: Offer good quality suits, which he bought at bankruptcy sales or from overstocked manufacturers and retailers, and sell them at discount prices.
In the `40s, Barney`s son Fred had another idea: upscaling. He polished the store`s look and brought in designer names, among them Giorgio Armani in the mid `70s, making Barneys the first U.S. retailer to woo and win the Italian designer.
Now it`s Fred`s sons turn.
While Gene takes credit for developing product and for adding a women`s store to the previously men`s-only Barneys in the mid-`80s, Bob`s imprimatur on the family business is that of creative financier.
And just what do the Brothers Pressman want Barneys to become here in Chicago?
Frick and Frack return to answer this one:
Bob: ”The best specialty store in the market.”
Gene: ”Let`s say one of the best specialty stores in the market-that sounds better.”
Bob: ”OK, one of the best specialty stores in the market.”
A SHOPPER`S GUIDE
What you can expect to find in Barneys New York on Oak Street:
– Directory: Main floor: Men`s and women`s shoes and accessories, cosmetics, and Chelsea Passage, which encompasses home accessories and and baby merchandise. Floor 2: women`s. Floor 3: men`s.
– Big statements: Both Donna Karan and Calvin Klein will have boutiques for men and women. Both also will make personal appearances within weeks of the opening-the Klein appearance being a real coup; he hasn`t been to Chicago in years.
– Price points for men: Fall suits start at around $595 and go up into the four digit stratosphere. Dress shirts start at $60; sport shirts, $45.
– Price points for women: A precious pair of Manolo Blahnik suede mules run a precious $550. Perry Ellis/Barneys New York leather jeans, $250. And Barneys New York label fall jackets hover between $450 and $500.
