Gene Pressman's Memoir About Barney's

Summary

All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Gene Pressman's Memoir About Barney's
Date: December 29, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features a rich conversation between host Alison Stewart and Gene Pressman, former CEO and third-generation co-owner of Barney’s New York, about his memoir They All Came: A Personal History of the World's Greatest Store. The discussion covers the evolution and culture of Barney’s, personal family anecdotes, the store’s impact on New York fashion, its unique approach to retail, and the bittersweet story of its eventual decline. Listeners also share their own cherished memories of Barney’s, revealing the store’s enduring place in New York’s cultural tapestry.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Write the Memoir Now?

• The Truth and Folklore of Barney’s:

  • Gene expresses the need to “set the record straight” about Barney’s history, which has often been “told and written about…some true…some folklore…some of it was false.” (01:25)
  • He describes writing as an “out of body experience” requiring him to view his life from an outside, reader’s perspective. (04:37)

• Barney’s as a New York Story:

  • Gene reflects on the transformation of New York, recalling a time “uptown would never go below 42nd Street,” and the creative ferment of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. (01:59)

2. Barney’s: More Than a Department Store

• Specialty vs. Department Store:
  • Gene corrects a common misconception, explaining: “It was as big as a department store, but it had the mentality of a smaller store…The creatives were out front, accountants stayed in the back room.” (03:07)
  • On customer experience: “Never give the customer what they want because they don’t know what they want. They want you to show them.” (03:35)

3. Family Dynamics & Store Culture

• Barney Pressman (Founder):
  • Listeners recall Barney’s honesty and long-term thinking; stories highlight his reluctance to oversell and insistence on value. “The credo was select, don’t settle…Value doesn’t mean it has to be cheap. It can be expensive if it’s worth it.” (08:48)
• Bertha Pressman (Gene’s Grandmother):
  • Bertha’s unique role is detailed: “She kept [Barney] in line…She wouldn’t let any customer browse in the store. They had to sit and be introduced by a salesperson.” (09:18)
  • Anecdotes evoke an early era of personalized, hands-on retailing, replete with hand-written name lists and clouds of cigarette smoke. (09:40–10:49)

4. Customer Stories & Barney’s as a Social Nexus

• Emotional Ties and Lasting Memories:
  • Callers share personal stories, such as buying a first suit for the high holidays or a bar mitzvah, and memories of the legendary warehouse sale. (06:48; 11:16; 18:59)
  • Barney’s is described as “more than a store…for a lot of people, it was part of the culture of New York. It influenced culture, and culture influenced it.” (13:08)
• Meeting Partners & Community:
  • Gene notes: “A lot of people met their future wives there…it was really a social event.” (13:23)

5. Barney’s Unique Cool & Approach to Fashion

• European Inspiration & American Innovation:

  • Gene: “I would go to Europe and…look at everything…architecture, food, flea markets…then reinterpret that differently and take that back with you.” (15:08)
  • “You need to build relevancy. If something becomes relevant, then maybe it’ll become cool…we tried to build something to last.” (16:50)

• On ‘Coolness’ and Confidence:

  • “Cool is not something you chase…If it does become cool, it lasts for like five minutes. What we tried to do is build something to last.” (16:54)
  • Finding his voice: “In the beginning you have no clue what you’re doing…as you start to do it and people start to like what you’re doing…that builds your confidence.” (18:02)

6. Legendary Warehouse Sale

• A New York Rite of Passage:
  • Callers reminisce about waiting in lines, communal shopping, “women wearing leotards,” and impromptu tug-of-war matches over coveted items. (19:54; 20:05)
  • Gene: “Before I started selling women’s, which was in 1976, we had a huge influx of women…buying the boys’ things because they were small sizes and well made.” (20:39)

7. Philanthropy and Community Leadership

• AIDS Benefit with St. Vincent’s & Levi Strauss:
  • Amid the AIDS crisis, Barney’s organized a pioneering benefit auctioning artist-embellished Levi’s jackets, worn by icons like Madonna and Iman. (21:43–23:10)
  • Gene: “We just felt that…with everything going on, that really was our sort of obligation and to take a leadership role.” (21:43)
  • On the event’s bittersweet joy: “It was a fun event in spite of the sadness…I still have the video from that.” (23:10)

8. Barney’s Demise & Legacy

• Bankruptcy & the End of an Era:
  • Gene cites over-expansion, the 1990s recession, dependence on Japanese investment, and a series of ownership changes post-1998.
    “We had a wonderful Japanese partner…It was kind of intoxicating, you know, to be able to do these things…then sales started not to be as good...I used to call it a machine…there was five or six owners after the family left in 98…” (23:35–24:59)
• Enduring Connection:
  • Host and callers reference keeping Barney’s bags and memories as keepsakes. (24:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the store’s ethos:
  “Never give the customer what they want because they don’t know what they want. They want you to show them.” – Gene Pressman [03:35]

• On creative leadership:
  “The creatives were out front, accountants stayed in the back room.” – Gene Pressman [03:07]

• On coolness:
  “Cool is not something that you chase…You need to build relevancy. If something becomes relevant, then maybe it’ll become cool.” – Gene Pressman [16:54]

• Family impact:
  “Bertha…she kept [Barney] in line like you wouldn’t believe…most people were terrified by my grandfather…she would just give him a look and he would absolutely stand at attention.” – Gene Pressman [09:18]

• About philanthropy:
  “We just felt that…that really was our sort of obligation and to take a leadership role.” – Gene Pressman [21:43]

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Listener Stories & Engagement

• Brooklyn Caller, David: Recounts Barney personally insisting on more practical, less expensive suits for growing boys, reflecting the early discount ethos. [06:48–07:52]
• Andrew from Brooklyn: Describes first visiting Barney’s for a bar mitzvah suit and being inspired to pursue a career in fashion. [11:16–13:08]
• Deborah, Hudson Valley: Shares vivid memories of the warehouse sale as an annual “feeding frenzy”; highlights importance to NYC culture. [18:59–20:05]
• Caroline: Recalls being treated to shopping at Barney’s by her aunt, Joan Rivers, and being welcomed by personable staff. [25:09–25:46]

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Important Timestamps

• [01:25] Why Gene wrote the memoir now
• [03:07] Difference between department and specialty stores
• [04:37] The challenge of memoir-writing
• [06:48] First listener story: honest salesmanship
• [09:18] Bertha’s unique, formidable presence
• [13:08] Barney’s as part of NYC’s cultural DNA
• [15:08] European inspiration and building Barney’s “cool”
• [18:59] Warehouse sale stories
• [21:43] AIDS benefit leadership and impact
• [23:35] On Barney’s bankruptcy and expansion risks

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Summary

This episode of All Of It with Alison Stewart offered a poignant, entertaining, and insightful look at Barney’s New York through the eyes of Gene Pressman. The conversation skillfully intertwined personal, family, and broader cultural stories, shedding light on how Barney’s shaped—and was shaped by—New York City’s evolving identity. The episode’s live listener stories further embedded Barney’s as an institution not just of commerce, but of community, memory, and style. The store’s philosophy, approach to “cool,” and willingness to take social responsibility come through loud and clear, providing valuable lessons for today’s culture and business—and for those who simply miss a great place to shop, meet, and dream.

Transcript

[A]

You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. One book conversation that really resonated with our Instagram followers was all about a beloved department store, Barney's New York. Barney's was founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman and was built into a phenomenon by his son Fred. Later it was steered by his grandsons Gene and Bob. A new memoir from Gene Pressman details not only the store's humble beginnings, but what it was like to grow up in the family business. It gives an insight into the behind the scenes workings of the international fashion market. You learn about being on the lookout for new talent. Like in 1976 when they spotted a young man named Giorgio Armani at and signed him to an exclusive deal. The book is called they All Came to A Personal History of the World's Greatest Store. And listeners, you'll hear some calls chime in during this conversation. But because this is an encore presentation, we're not taking any callers today. I began the conversation with Jean Pressman by asking why now was the right time to write about Barneys.

[B]

Well, everything is timing, that's true. And you know, there've been many things told and written about Barney's over the years and some of it was true and some of it was folklore and some of it was false. And I just felt that I wanted to set the record straight and separating myself as much as I could, which was an interesting exercise in writing this book. I thought it was, I was lucky enough to live that story. I mean, it really is a good story in so many ways. It's a New York story. It's a family story. It's a creative story. It's during certainly in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was a very creative period in New York and in the universe for that matter. So it was special to be there. And I think also New York grew up then. You know, I used to say that the people uptown would never go below 42nd street because they were afraid to get a nosebleed. So because in those days, downtown didn't really exist, soho didn't exist, Tribeca didn't exist, Chelsea didn't exist. The West Village did. But you know, in a much limited way, in the East Village you could get a rental for 250 and all the rats you know, you wanted.

[A]

So you say in the book, and this is very clear, that it wasn't a department store, that it was a specialty store.

[C]

What set Barney's apart?

[B]

Well, the, the specialty store comes from its roots, which was It's Stars, a men's store. And so most men's stores, when they're on their own, are specialty stores. They're not carrying anything except specifically menswear. So that's what specialty store means. But, you know, people confused, I think Barney's as being a department store because it was as big as a department store, but it had the mentality of a smaller store. And, you know, we were sticklers when it came to that. We, we wanted to make sure that it was very creative. It changed a lot that the accountants stayed in the back rooms and that the creatives were out front. And it's also our approach to, to the customer. I, I used to have a saying that never give the customer what they want because they don't know what they want. They want you to show them. So I was a major Beatles fanatic. So I always used to think it was like the magical mystery tours as.

[C]

You were writing the book and you have to tell the truth about it. What was difficult for you to write about and then what was just fun?

[B]

I don't know if anything was specifically difficult to write about because I'm usually a very forward, forthcoming person. But I think I wanted was sort of an outer mind, out of body experience, especially when you're writing about your memoirs. I wanted to look at it from a reader's point of view. And so I had to take a step back. I was very concerned about too much embellishment. I wanted to try and be as real as possible. I collaborated with a really brilliant guy named Matthew Schneier. Matthew is the food critic for New York magazine and he did a phenomenal job of trying to keep me online, I guess. I had so much passion for wanting to talk about it and I was very proud of what my family did, that I had to really think hard about the intricacies because when I was doing it, I was going at warp speed. Oh, I bet. And doing so much for so long. And I never really had a chance to sit back and enjoy it. Yeah. And in writing the book, you really do get a chance to say, wow, did I do that? And I learned a lot myself because I wasn't as analytic as when you're writing about it, you know, and when you're writing a book. This is my second book. You, you really, you read the book more than once and you're just sort of self analyzing and self analyzing. And the written word's a lot different than a speaking word. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Let's take a couple calls. Dave is calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, David. Thank you for taking the time to call.

[A]

All of it.

[D]

So when I was about 13, my dad took me and my brother, year younger than I was, to Barney's to buy us suits for the high holidays. The salesman was showing us suits, and along comes Barney. He sees what's going on. He says to the salesman, these kids don't need expensive suits like you're showing them. A year from now, they won't even be able to fit them anymore. And he made them get us less expensive suits. At the time, my dad was a physician. Money was no object. But Barney did the right thing. You know, he didn't want to oversell us. And I remember at the time it was kind of a discount place. And if I remember right, the racks that the suits were on were made out of pipe. You know, it was not a fancy place, but I will never forget that.

[C]

David, thanks for sharing that memory. It was a really good memory of what it was like when Barney first started. You know, it was a place where you could get a good deal. No bunk, no junk. That was his motto. What were his strengths as a businessman?

[B]

Well, I just want to respond to that story because everybody has a Barney story and I love them, I really do. My grandfather was clever because he thought long term and he wanted to keep this customer, David, right when he came in the shop. He was a young guy and hopefully we kept him to when he grew up and even when his children came to Barney. So my father was very clever in seeing that. So, sorry, what was the question that answered my question?

[C]

What were his strengths as a businessman? He wanted to keep a client for a long time.

[B]

Well, you know, in those days it was. The credo was select, don't settle. And that means a lot of things, but it's about giving the customer value. And value doesn't mean it has to be cheap. It can be expensive if it's worth it. And the shopping experience is very good.

[C]

I also wanted to mention Bertha because.

[A]

Barney's important, but so is Bertha.

[B]

Oh, yeah, well, Bertha was an amazing lady.

[C]

Her grandmother, by the way.

[B]

Yeah, my grandmother. And you know, Barney was a tough guy from the Lower east side. And she kept him in line like you wouldn't believe. And to see, it was really hysterical because most people were terrified by my grandfather. And especially when he'd walk in the store on the floor, but she would just give him a look and he would absolutely stand at attention. And she was intimately part of the business too. She came from a very wealthy family, actually the antithesis of my grandfather. Her father owned, I think, the largest bakery in New York City, and they grew up in Connecticut. And she would have the people come in, the customers that would come into the store and sit down on these sort of tacky norga hide chairs that you would see in the airport. And they were allowed to smoke in the store. So, you know, the smoke would fill up to the ceiling. Maybe there'd be a foot off the ceiling. And she would handwrite, you know, everybody's name, and she wouldn't let any customer browse in the store. They had to sit in the chair and then be introduced by. By a salesperson. And then she would check them off. And she'd wear the most incredible jewels, real jewels, in doing all of this with dark navy sunglasses and.

[C]

Yeah, sounds great.

[B]

She was cool. And, you know, it was sort of a really, a paradox, you know, because in those days, Barney's was a discount store.

[C]

Let's talk to another caller.

[A]

Let's talk to Andrew, who is calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, Andrew, thanks for making the time.

[C]

To call all of it.

[E]

Hi, Great, great, great to be on this call.

[A]

You're on the air.

[E]

Yeah, just wanted to tell, tell Gina a story about when I went to Barney's first. I had grown up in Montreal, visited family here in New York, and I was 12 years old, approaching my bar mitzvah and loved fashion. Fashion business wanted to be like Ralph Lauren. And my uncle took me to the city and ended up passing fit, which was on 7th Avenue and 27th. And then he said, I have. That's a great place if you want to study fashion. So that was in my mind. And this was on the way to going to get my bar mitzvah suit. And then we went on to Barney's and we went in and I remember specifically buying an Yves Saint Laurent suit there. I didn't buy it. My uncle bought it for me. But the experience was so, so memorable. You know, I just, I just will never forget it. And had my career, still have my career in fashion. FIT was a big part of my life. Went there, graduated, met my wife there, which was amazing. And, you know, that just that, that just experience just meant so much to me. And, you know, I wish, I wish Barney's was here again the way it was. I was a huge Basco fan, too.

[A]

Thumbs up on Basco.

[C]

You get a thumbs up on.

[A]

Thank you so much for sharing your story.

[C]

We really appreciate it.

[A]

Did you want to respond?

[B]

Yeah, sure. What, what year was that? Was that 1970s.

[A]

Sounds like it.

[E]

No, no, no, no.

[F]

80.

[E]

It was 83.

[B]

Okay. Okay. Yeah. You know, as I was saying before that, I love to hear customers have Barney's stores. It really does make me feel good. Yeah. You know, we tried to make Barney's more than a store. I mean, it was. I think, for a lot of people, it was part of the culture of New York. It influenced culture, and culture influenced it. You know, I talk about in the book that a lot of people met their future wives there, and it was really a social event in a way. And, you know, they went there to see a lot of things that they'd never seen before. And, of course, they could eat there, too, which I think they liked. So, you know, I was very proud of that.

[C]

We're talking to Gene Pressman. He wrote the book they All Came to Barney's. After the break, we'll find out how Barney personified. Cool.

[A]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Let's continue my conversation with Gene Pressman, author of the new memoir the they All Came to Barney's A Personal History of the World's Greatest Store. Gene is the former CEO of Barney's. Listeners, since this is an encore presentation, we won't be able to take your calls today. Now here's more of my conversation with Jean. Your dad, Fred, is credited with taking the store more upscale. Your team was credited for making it cool.

[G]

We.

[A]

What did you look for when you were shopping, when you were thinking about Barney's during your time?

[B]

You mean, what influenced me? Yeah, I think pretty much everything other than fashion, really. I've been very lucky and privileged to be taken to Europe at a very young age. I spent a lot of time in Europe, and it's always great to learn other cultures. You get a whole different perspective of things. And so I would go to Europe and we would look at everything. We'd go to museums, we'd go to the flea markets. We would look at the architecture. I mean, you know, something like, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, at least for me. You learn about foods, you learn about how people. What their mannerisms are, how they dress. And then you start to formulate your own ideas and how you could sort of reinterpret that differently and take that back with you. And then being American, I think there's a sense of freedom that you have and free thinking that you have. And you sort of combine that. That. That idea of Americanism and put that in with the European sensibility, and it comes out A little differently. And that's just, you know, that's sort of what we did. I didn't really think about it then. I thought about it when I was writing the book. But, you know, the store became cool. And cool is not something that you chase. I wrote my first book called Chasing Cool, which is exactly what we're talking about. You need to build relevancy. If something becomes relevant, then maybe it'll become cool. I think a lot of people chase cool too hard. And if it does become cool, it lasts for like five minutes. And what we try to do is build something to last. I think when you think long term like that, people take it out of their closet and wear it forever and are still proud of it, you know, So I. It's funny because in all the vintage shops, I know they're chic now, so they call them vintage. I used to call them thrift. But whether you go online to some of the websites or you go to shop some of these stores, the stuff that flies out of the store first is the Barney's label. And I was astounded by that. But, you know, it's really a compliment.

[C]

So there's this great line in your book. You write, I saw how creative it could be. I love that part of Barney's. Building your own expression from the cloth up, smuggling the interpretation of European style back to the home front. Privately, had a feeling that I could do that as well as anyone.

[B]

Well, you have to as an individual. You have to have some confidence. And the way you build that is, you know, in the beginning, you have no clue what you're doing. It's in. In those days, it was very organic. And I think that's a little bit of that is missing today, you know, but as you start to do it and people start to like what you're doing, it's like what you're doing. You know, you're very good at. At your job and people enjoy listening to you. So that builds your confidence and you sort of get at ease. But you're always trying to do better, right. And get another edge. So that's really how we did it. And I get bored very quickly, so I needed to change things up all the time, you know.

[C]

Let's talk to Deborah who's calling from the Hudson Valley. Hi, Deborah, thanks for calling all of it.

[F]

Hi, Alison. Love your show. Been a big follower, big fan. And also Barney's. I just wanted to talk about the warehouse sale that was, I think, every Labor Day weekend. And we, the people who aspired to Barney's would wait online to get in to have a feeding frenzy of what was left over. It may not have been the current season, but the stuff was so beautiful. And a lot of it was men's stuff at the beginning. But I was in the men's tailored wear. And I had some beautiful shirts, Kilgore French and Stanbury. Some beautiful sweaters. I wore them until they were no more. And I just remember the. Every Labor Day weekend, waiting in line to go to Barney's, I would go with my dad. My dad had better luck because he was a guy, you know, sort of fitting and everything like that. And we just loved it. We just loved it. And it was a New York thing, you know. On Labor Day weekend, you would go wait in line at Barney's.

[C]

Oh, you totally waited in line. There weren't dressing rooms, so you got as comfortable as you get getting into the clothes in public. But it was. It was so much fun to go to the Barney's warehouse sale, you know.

[B]

You know, the women that came in to buy at the warehouse sale, they were insane. They would come in and they'd be wearing leotards, and they would just strip everything else off. And all the guys were in there were, like, in shock, and they were just putting on stuff and throwing it around. And there'd be a tug of wars, you know, between two women that wanted this thing. What was interesting, what you said, is that before I started selling women's, which was in 1976, we had a huge influx of women coming to Barney's, not only with their boyfriend or their husband or both, I don't know, but also we used to have a boys department called Barney's Boys Town. And the really savvy women would come in and buy the boys things because they were small sizes and they were well made. And they were definitely not as expensive as women's clothes, because women's clothes, for the most part, is more expensive than men's clothes. So we sold a lot of that to the women. And. Yes, and a lot of women also bought some of the men's things as well.

[A]

There is one story I wanted to get to before we run out of time. It's about the benefit that Barney's through with. What was St. Vincent's for HIV and AIDS. There's so many designers you lost.

[C]

You list them in the book. So many people who worked at Barney's who you lost.

[A]

Why was that important for you to host that benefit?

[B]

Well, you know, it was a strange period of time. First of all, in the business that we were in, we were losing a lot of people, salespeople, people worked at Barney's, obviously a lot of designers. But I think it was a period of time that the awareness of AIDS was sort of kept under wraps, and the government really didn't do very much to help. And so we just felt that with everything going on, that really was our sort of obligation and to take a leadership role. I think we were the first ones to retailer to have this benefit called up the Haas family that owned Levi Strauss. We thought that the most iconic thing that anybody could wear would be a Levi's denim jacket. And we had a lot of connections between the fashion world and the art world. And we reached out to amazing people at the time and asked them if they would embellish these jackets. And then the people that were wearing them, from Madonna to Iman, Mrs. David Bowie, and so many amazing people over 100 would be walking down this staircase with the numbered cars like they would have in the auctions. And we raised a lot of money for aid. So it was a fun event in spite of the sadness. I think everybody forgot themselves a little bit during that time. And it was. It was really one of the special events. I still have the video from that.

[C]

Oh, wow. This texture. Wants to know, wants to hear your thoughts about the decisions that led Barneys into bankruptcy.

[B]

So, you know, the decisions that led you into bankruptcy is that you. You don't have it. You don't have a choice. There's. There wasn't one thing. We were in the midst of a huge expansion. America was in a terrible, deep recession, and we had a wonderful Japanese partner where Japan, ironically enough, was not in a recession then. And so they really threw a lot of money at us. So it was kind of intoxicating, you know, to be able to do these things when everybody else was suffering. And then, you know, I guess sales started not to be as good as we like them to be, and things got tougher. And, you know, we made a decision we didn't want to be because, I mean, Barney's was not only an amazing place, but it was a really good business. I used to call it a machine, you know, but we ended up doing it. And then I think there was five or six owners after the family left in 98, that went on and perpetuated the business till it finally saw its demise, I think in 2020, maybe.

[C]

Yeah, I still have my Barney's bag. I still got one in my closet. All right, Caroline, you have to make this quick. In about 45 seconds. Go.

[G]

Great. Hi. So glad to be on the phone with you. So my Barney story is when I first moved to New York, 20 something, right out of college, my very nice aunt would treat me to a little shopping spree at Barney's once or twice a year. She was Joan Rivers and she would work with your personal shoppers for her talk show at the time. So she knew them. And I would go and I'd get a couple hundred dollars worth of very chic clothing that I knew nothing about until I was educated by your lovely shoppers.

[C]

Caroline, Perfect. Thank you so much for calling.

[B]

I knew your Aunt Joan. In fact, I was up at her apartment. She was great.

[A]

That was my conversation with Gene Pressman about his new book. They all came to a personal history of the world's greatest store. And that's all of it for today. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you have a great weekend and I'll meet you back here next time.

[C]

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