Barneys - tragically wasted resources

A Barneys NY opened in my city just short of two years ago, to much fanfare. The perfume and cosmetics level was like a fairyland, carrying all the niche and hard to find brands that the likes of Macy's or even Saks had never dreamed of. And..... OMG, a Frederic Malle boutique! Complete with the cylindrical chambers so reminiscent of the Orgasmatron in Woody Allen's "Sleeper". I bought a few things and made regular stops in every couple of weeks. The sales people were, by and large, better than the norm. If they didn't have particular knowledge of the brand you were interested in, they'd go to great lengths to put you in touch with someone who did. The couple of specialists for the Frederic Malle area were also very well versed in everything else that was carried in the fragrance department.

Fast foward to 2009. A visit last week to Barneys was very typical of recent times. There was a brand new S/A in the FM boutique, the latest comer through their revolving door. Ever since the original two departed (less than a year after opening), there hasn't been a specialist in the Malles that has stayed for more than a couple of months, or so it seems.

In the main fragrance area, I was "helped" by an S/A who seemed panicked by any question I brought up about any line. A query like "when will you be getting in xxxx by zzzz" brought the response "we just have what you see in front of you" - that's verbatim, by the way - about five times in a row. If I'd asked anything about Le Labo, I bet they would have had a complete breakdown.

I could go on but it disheartens me. I didn't stay long and only tried on one thing. The irony is that Barneys carries about three-quarters of the niche stuff that Luckyscent does (the things that interest me, anyway), and they're the only brick and mortar purveyor of those items in this part of the world. But I'd rather order through Luckyscent during a free shipping promo, get samples along with my order, and wait a few days for the satisfaction - and that's really saying something for me, an instant gratification junkie if there ever was one.

Hey Barneys, wise the f*ck up! You have a treasure trove and you could make a tidy profit from the perfume addicts who abound in this city. Such a steep decline in such a short time. It's not too late to reverse course, but you're heading towards the iceberg fast.

Wouldn't it be a gas if Mr. Malle could have a secret webcam on each of his boutiques which are in a Barneys location? Then he could see and hear for himself the listless, clueless "service". But being a smart guy, he would notice before anything else the absence of customers during most of the day.

Little vignette about Malle samples here: I was in the fragrance department of another department store, where an S/A was looking through and commenting on a stack of samples from the Malle boutique at Barneys. I'm talking about wrapped, branded, enchantillon-from-the-company samples, not just something sprayed into a vial. And where had she gotten these samples? From her conversation, it seems, she has a friend who is an S/A at Barneys, who knows she "just adores" certain Frederic Malle scents.

Good going, Barneys. I paid full price for fragrances at your store (including those from the F. Malle boutique) more than a few times and was never offered so much as one sample, even though I expressed interest in a specific scent - any smart business person would have sent me home with a sufficient quantity of said scent to get hooked on so I would come back for that one too. But now I know where the samples are going.