With tomorrow (Tuesday) being the extended last day of the Barneys Warehouse Sale, Fashionable Femme Jen braved today’s crowd to give us an update…. While the selection is really bottom of the barrel, the discount might just be worth you stopping in on the last day.
Even with an online sale preceding the annual warehouse event in NYC, there is no shortage of merchandise at the Barney’s warehouse sale this year. In fact, it seemed like clothes from years past are still resurfacing!
If you are in the market for affordable designer duds—Good News! Prices have been slashed further. Women’s main floor items were mostly an additional 75% off, with sportswear at 70% off and shoes and designer items at 60% off the sale price. When I stopped by the sale Monday afternoon, it was mobbed. The line was 60+ people deep and the floor was pretty crowded. By now, a lot of the shoe selection is depleted, though I did spot a pair of black patent Giannotti Giuseppe heels and a pair of black Lanvin booties going for $159.60 (with today’s discount) that were pretty basic. The bag bins are less full, though there are still piles of underwhelming Barney’s house brand bags and a lot of damaged goods.
On the racks, I spotted a Marc Jacobs summer blue pinstripe sweetheart dress in sizes 2,4 and 6 for $49.75 (after discount). There is also a crème Etoile by Isabel Marant dress in size 2 for $59.75 (after discount). The one item I seem to see an abundance of today is a black and purple print V-Neck Richard Chai Love dress priced at $94.75 (after discount). There also is a good showing of Marc Jacobs across racks and Altuzarra in the designer section.
Overall, it seems that the selection is somewhat replenished for Labor Day shoppers, though I’m not sure that quantity can justify a substitution in quality. If you haven’t braved the crowds and are still debating whether or not to go, I’ll say this—the pricing is definitely a selling point. If you’re lucky, you can walk away with designer goods normally priced at four figures for under $100. What you have to endure to get there is digging through endless racks of stuff, waiting in long checkout lines, wading through the mass of shoppers and keeping a keen eye for damaged and unworthy merchandise. Is it worth it? Up to you…
Where/When: 255 W. 17th Street. Thru Tuesday, Sept 4th. (9-9p).
I just stopped by at lunch and the mens floor has some great deals and was not crowded and pleasant atmosphere to shop in I got some ties and sweaters for my guy. Then I headed upstairs to the women’s…it seemed very very picked over and everything seemed pretty beat up. I would say not worth a visit if you are going for ladies.
I also stopped by this afternoon and found a few basics on deep discount in men’s, and the Mrs did OK too. They had $39 Bass Weejuns that were restocked yesterday. Also some newly restocked Lanvin and Bruno Cucinelli in Men’s. The Weejuns were not exactly a high-fashion bargain but a great deal on a summer essential that never goes out of style. There were a number of decent shirts tucked into the racks, stuff like Georgio Armani, McQueen, Zegna. After attending the last 14 BWS’s, I’m pretty convinced it’s a great way to pick up cheap and well-made basics like gray suits, but for the good designer stuff you have to hit the sales in the stores and pay just a wee bit more than the warehouse store prices.
i got some pretty great deals on black fleece suits
where does leftover stuff go?
DK – I’m sure most of it goes back into a warehouse and brought out for future sales since we continue to see repeats at sales from previous seasons.
A Barney’s employee told me that a lot of the leftovers get trickled out into the two local outlets, though it seems like most of the stuff at the outlets is lower-end stuff made for the outlets, and a lot of stuff at the sale seems to get recycled from sale to sale. That said, I was the second-to-last person out this year, and the stock was seriously depleted. I’d say at least half of the stuff gets sold in the sale (not including restocking), and if half of what’s left gets sold at the outlets, then 3/4 of the stuff is new each sale. That new stuff could well be left over from previous seasons – stuff simply left in the corner of a warehouse somewhere, late returns, etc. Also Barney’s Warehouse Sale has been known to buy stuff from others to liquidate. I once found an S5A tag there. Hence perhaps more seems to be repeats than actually may be.
I hope somebody found the stunning Lanvin harness belts in the “pet accessories” bin. They seemed untouched until the last day, by which point the one I wanted had been divided into two pieces, with the bottom half nary to be found. Still, this kept me laughing all week… especially when I tried one on and some of the security folks were making fun of me for wearing a dog collar.
Not a surprise that the last few days did draw the crowds… A cashier told a friend who went on the last day that Labor Day was INSANE and that they sold 890 pairs of shoes alone!