Thumbs down for the new West Side Barneys [UPDATED]

The new Barneys Co-op finally opened on the Upper West Side, near the notoriously hectic Fairway supermarket, in an area traditionally dominated by food and bookstores. Rather than lament the demise of the "old" Upper West Side--once apartments start going for $1 million or more, it's hard to claim that any subsequent developments are examples of gentrification--I decided to embrace the idea of Barneys's arrival to the neighborhood. While I had some doubts about whether the soon-to-open store would have much of a fan base in an area where shapeless, natural-fiber clothes and Birkenstocks are the norm, I wished Barneys luck. If the Upper West Side is going to be a wealthy area, it might as well be a fashionable one.

Well, I didn't know the thing had actually opened until I noticed a less-than-glamorous man wearing sandwich boards advertising the store standing near the 72nd Street and Broadway subway station. (Where was my camera when I needed it?) So I walked up a couple blocks to what had, until just now, been a messy construction site. And there it was--and by "it" I mean a whole lot of nothing. The clothing, though the usual Barneys prices, was all laid out as if in a mall store with a target audience consisting of especially unsophisticated 14-year-olds. Sort of a Wet Seal look. Or maybe a Diesel store, minus the clever-ironic motifs. The whole thing looked as if it were made out of cardboard, not unlike the Hyde Park Borders, and was so shabbily put together that it made the nearby Urban Outfitters seem elegant. Worst, perhaps, were a bunch of very ugly felt hats just kind of sitting there, not arranged in any particular way, and with trim that looked like any second it would peel off. I looked at the price tag: $236. At the other Barneys stores, the clothing is at least presented in such a way that $236 for a hat doesn't seem outrageous, but here it seemed like the hats had been removed from a bargain bin at H&M.

The question is not if this store will fold but when.


UPDATE:

The NYT reviews the new store, and is under the impression that the store is just what the neighborhood needed: "The new Barneys Co-op, the third in Manhattan, has not been shy about asserting its presence. In contrast to the other Manhattan Co-ops, which have adopted an ultraminimalist guerrilla approach to retailing and look as if they might pull up stakes at any moment, the new store feels designed to stay put, an identifiable anchor in the neighborhood."

Money quote, so to speak: "Howard Socol, the chairman and chief executive of Barneys, expects the new store to turn a profit soon. 'We think it is going to be one of the most productive Co-op stores that we have,' he said."