Homecoming: Barneys opens new flagship store in downtown Manhattan
![New York's luxury retailer Barneys has opened a new downtown flagship on 7th Avenue](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8wFiydRQHEMuTux9b54Ms3-415-80.jpg)
Barneys is returning home. The New York luxury retailer has opened a new downtown flagship location on 7th Avenue, between 16th Street and 17th Street – the very block in Chelsea where the company started in 1923, and kept a presence until the late 1990s.
Barneys tapped New York firm Steven Harris Architects to oversee the design, continuing a partnership founded in 2012 when the company was tasked with renovating the store's Madison Avenue and Beverly Hills locations. Lalire March Architects serve as the project’s executive architecture practice.
Outside the store, a 170-ft stainless steel marquee runs along the 7th Avenue façade and around the corner onto the 16th Street side, with two feature windows that will serve as prime staging opportunities for Barneys’ renowned window displays.
Shifting inside, and a stunning white spiral staircase in the atrium serves as the space's centrepiece, connecting the foundation level to the third floor. The lauded, late American abstract and minimalist artists (respectively) Agnes Martin and Fred Sandback serve as inspiration for the mirrored vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines that make up the atrium's abstract design.
'The store is completely unique compared to any other store downtown. It is subtle but inordinately luxurious,' explains architect Steven Harris. 'We wanted to create a calm and tranquil environment with a neutral, but richly varied, colour palette that truly highlights the merchandise.'
The store will carry labels like Acne Studios, Saint Laurent and Givenchy, and will feature capsule collections by Valentino, Alexander Wang, Elder Statesman and Sidney Garber in the coming months (as well as factoring state-of-the-art technology throughout, that will allow customers to source product recommendations and corresponding multimedia content). Blind Barber will have a dedicated alcove space for providing men’s shaves and haircuts; while Freds, an iconic power lunch destination at Barneys' Madison Avenue location, will open its first downtown eatery on the third floor.
New York firm Steven Harris Architects oversaw the striking design, continuing a partnership first initiated in 2012. Pictured: a stunning white spiral staircase in the atrium serves as the space’s centrepiece, connecting the foundation level to the third floor
Freds, an iconic power lunch destination at Barneys’ Madison Avenue location, has also migrated and will open its first downtown eatery on the third floor
’The store is completely unique compared to any other store downtown,’ explains Harris of the new flagship’s irresistable interior design. ’It is subtle but inordinately luxurious’
The store will carry labels like Acne Studios, Saint Laurent and Givenchy, and will feature capsule collections by Valentino, Alexander Wang, Elder Statesman and Sidney Garber
In addition, Blind Barber will have a dedicated alcove space for men’s shaves and haircuts, while prime staging opportunities for Barneys’ renowned window displays come in the form of two feature windows that run along the 7th Avenue façade
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Barneys’ website
Photography: Scott Frances
ADDRESS
Barneys
101 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ann Binlot is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer who covers art, fashion, design, architecture, food, and travel for publications like Wallpaper*, the Wall Street Journal, and Monocle. She is also editor-at-large at Document Journal and Family Style magazines.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Marissa Zappas makes perfume that smells like tornadoes and birthday cake
Marissa Zappas has a radical imagination. Here, the perfumer talks with Jocelyn Silver about the new direction for her namesake brand
By Jocelyn Silver Published
-
Andrés Reisinger makes Hourglass blush with bubblegum-pink drapes
Artist Andrés Reisinger speaks exclusively to Wallpaper* about his New York takeover with Hourglass cosmetics
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
Hermès heads to New York for a one-off show capturing ‘the pace, energy and optimism’ of the city
Yesterday evening (7 June 2024) at New York’s Pier 36, Nadège Vanhee held ‘The Second Chapter’ of her A/W 2024 Hermès womenswear show with an energetic, colour-saturated collection inspired by her former home city
By Jack Moss Published
-
Inside Cutler and Gross’ ‘warm and inviting’ New York address
As Cutler and Gross upsize to a new store on New York’s Mercer Street, we speak to designers Chris Leong and Dominic Leong of New York-based architecture firm Leong Leong about the space, which was inspired by ’archival libraries and reading rooms’
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Remembering Liquid Sky, the cult 1990s New York fashion store that was ‘also a scene’
As a new book is released, Liquid Sky founders Claudia Rey and Carlos Slinger tell Wallpaper’s Mary Cleary about the downtown fashion store that attracted New York’s underground and had Chloë Sevigny as a sales clerk
By Mary Cleary Published
-
Met Gala 2024 and ‘Sleeping Beauties’ exhibition: what to expect
Everything Wallpaper* knows about the Met Gala 2024 this evening (6 May 2024) – from the theme, exhibition and dress code to the A-list co-chairs
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
Inside Sterling Ruby and OTW by Vans’ skatewear-inspired collaboration
American artist Sterling Ruby and OTW by Vans’ footwear collaboration was revealed in Los Angeles, backdropped by a specially constructed skate park created with PLAYLAB, INC
By Tilly Macalister-Smith Published
-
Inside John Lobb’s timelessly elegant New York flagship, a trove for shoe lovers
John Lobb opens its 700 Madison Avenue store, a walnut wood-clad space filled with sophisticated footwear for any occasion or terrain
By Tianna Williams Published