Barneys might go bankrupt!
The ultra-classy department store, beloved by Carrie Bradshaw and gay men on both coasts, has hired restructuring/bankruptcy law firm Kirkland & Ellis to help renegotiate a $200 million loan due in September, reports WWD.
According to The Cut, its finances are dire:
The retailer has been mired in debt ever since their 2007 takeover by Dubai investment group Istithmar, which bought Barneys from The Jones Group for $942 million. Istithmar still owes $660 million in outstanding loans stemming from the deal, primarily to Citigroup and Wells Fargo, all of which are due in various chunks — $200 million, $280 million, and $180 million respectively — over the next four years.
Rumors have been swirling that Barneys might have file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as it did once before in 1996, if worse comes to worst.
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Says a Barneys spokesperson:
Barneys New York is actively engaged in discussions with the company’s small group of lenders to improve its balance sheet and further position Barneys New York for sustainable, long-term growth and success. We are focused on resolving this matter as expeditiously as possible, and it will remain business as usual at Barneys New York.
One of the ways it could improve its balance sheet—by courting the wife of one of its biggest debt-holders.
The Daily News says Barneys CEO Mark Lee is pushing designer Lisa Perry’s collection hard. Lisa is the wife of billionaire hedge-fund manager Richard Perry, whose Perry Capital holds a large chunk of Barneys’ debt.
Should Barneys go the way of the purple dinosaur (become extinct, we mean), where ever are we going to buy fabulous shorts for Fire Island/Provincetown/Key West/Santa Monica/South Beach???
Timmmeeeyyy
They will probably ride into the sunset joined by Sears.
Cole
Santa Monica? You mean West Hollywood…
Mike UK
I’m sure you can all go shopping in JC Penney and support Ellen!!!
divkid
call me peevish but isn’t this a bit, well, tenuous? …not withstanding the amazing fact that at some time SOME gay will have bought shorts SOMEPLACE.
oh, oh, but — CARRIE BRADSHAW!!! foolish me, what was i thinking!? bad gay!
divkid
@Mike UK:
to add insult to injury did i hear a single word from queerty when PEACOCKS went in to receivership? did i buggery…and that’s the calibre of SHOP [NOT “store” it’s our language, our rules!] that my gays like to be seen in.
what’s that america? don’t get the reference? no. now you know how it feels. that’ll learn ya! 😉
Mike in Asheville
@Mike UK: Sorry Mike UK but JC Penney’s didn’t hire Ellen to get gay customers — Penney’s isn’t quite the right look for The Gays. Penney’s brought Ellen on for the middle middle class women who love her.
Evan Mulvihill
@Mike UK @divkid: Clearly we are in dire need of some colourful British correspondents.
QJ201
Some moron’s overpaid for Barney’s and now can’t pay off their loans.
Half the goods at Barney’s can also be found cheaper elsewhere…or at their own warehouse sale. Why pay $1000 bucks for a suit when you can get it for $200 at the warehouse sale (I bought 4!)
ah the joys of the free market.
Marie Cohn
Fashion victims picked cleaned by vulture capitalists.
Cam
What kind of idiots would pay nearly a billion dollars for Barneys?!
Chuck
I like Barneys but Bergdorf Goodman could easily take their place. However, Bergdorf’s owners, Neiman Marcus get a terrible HRC Equality Index score. So shop at Bloomingdales, HRC score, a perfect 100.
divkid
@Evan Mulvihill:
YES! YES! >C-O-L-O-U-R-F-U-L< well done!
see what you can do when you reeeaaallly try!
now just learn to say aluminium instead of alooominum and we might just let you keep that lil' colony 😉
velocifero
The nail in the coffin must have been the Gaga’s Workshop at the Barney’s in NYC.
Good riddance. The spray tanned twinks who work at Barney’s in LA can
go work at Walmart where they belong.