Barney Pressman (December 14, 1894 – August 24, 1991) was an American businessman and founder of

Barneys New York Barneys New York is an American brand founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman that operated full-line department stores from 1923 until 2020. Authentic Brands Group acquired Barneys' intellectual property in 2019, and has licensed the brand to Saks F ...

retail store.New York Times: "Barney Pressman, Retailing Legend, Is Dead at 96" By STEPHANIE STROM
August 27, 1991

Early life

Pressman was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, the son of an owner of a clothing store. He was one of seven children and was raised on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Career

In 1923, he purchased the lease and contents of a small clothing store at Seventh Avenue and 17th Street in Manhattan selling his wife's wedding ring to finance the transaction.Barneys in Rubble
Los Angeles Magazine, Jesse Kornbluth, March 1996 As his store was located in a non-traditional

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

area, Pressman purchased inventory at a discount at bankruptcies,

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

s, and in odd lots including searching the newspapers for notices of

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

and divorce among the city's elite.Real Goatskin and Lotsa Gas: The Pressman Saga Unzipped
New York Observer, Francine Prose, March 22, 1999Orlando Sun Sentinel: A Tale Of Wolves Swaddled In Sheep's Clothing
L.A. LOREK, May 16, 1999 By buying name-brand goods at a discount, he was able to severely undercut the manufacturer's selling price and although he did not have the most desired styles, his

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

customers preferred brand name products for low prices. His success incurred the wrath of the manufacturers who pressured local suppliers to limit sales to Pressman; Pressman circumvented their efforts and started to purchase excess inventory from independent retailers in the South, where the New York manufacturers had less influence. Pressman was known for aggressive sales promotions including "No Bunk, No Junk, No Imitation" and "Calling all men to Barneys" (mimicking

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago T ...

) as well as the heavy use of radio advertising to attract customers to his out-of-the-way location. As he could not afford prime-time radio advertising, he would sponsor programs featuring Irish music (reflective of his clientele) and radio broadcasts of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial. In the 1950s, Barneys sold more suits than any other single store in the world, employing 150 tailors. In the 1960s, his son Fred changed the focus of the business and starting advertising to customers who were not as price sensitive and began to carry expensive suits and coats. He changed the name to Barneys New York. Pressman retired in 1975, but remained active in the business. In 1977, Barneys added women's apparel, housewares, cosmetics, and gifts. By the time of his death in 1991, Barney's had $200 million in sales. In January 1996, Barneys filed for bankruptcy protection after a dispute with its Japanese lender.

Personal life

Pressman was married twice. His first wife, Barbara, died in 1972; they had two children: Elizabeth (died 1971) and Fred who took over Barney's in 1975. His grandsons were both in the family business: Robert Pressman, was responsible for the financial side of the business; and his grandson Gene Pressman, was responsible for merchandising.New York Observer: "Barneys’ Life In Turnaround" By Chris Shott
July 11, 2007 His second wife was Isabel Pressman. In 1991 funeral services were held at the Central Synagogue in

. His granddaughter, Louise Sunshine, is the co-founder of the real estate marketing and sales company Sunshine Group.New York Times: "Louise Sunshine, Martin S. Begun"
February 16, 1997The Real Deal: "Louise Sunshine" By Lauren Elkies
retrieved September 27, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pressman, Barney 1890s births 1991 deaths American Jews American retail company founders American retail chief executives American businesspeople in retailing