Barneys

Department store in New York selling ready-to-wear. It was founded by Barney Pressman who, in order to rent the premises and obtain his first merchandise, pawned his wife’s engagement ring. Within a few years this great New York department store became a leader in men’s ready-to-wear, and in 1968 it began to sell European designers. In 1976 a new women’s department was opened, and within a decade it led to the opening of a new main store. At the beginning of the 1990s a joint venture with the Japanese financial firm Isetan allowed the company to open branch stores in the U.S. and Japan.