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Bloomberg
Barneys New York Inc will deepen its discounts over Black Friday weekend in a rare clearance of luxury brands — undercutting rival retailers that are generally loathe to offer price cuts on expensive merchandise.
Clearance sales at Barneys will average 30% to 35% off starting on Wednesday as the holiday shopping rush begins, a representative for B. Riley Financial, the firm handling the sale all remaining inventory, confirmed. That’s steeper than the earlier round of 5% to 10% discounts, and could have an impact on rivals’ luxury sales during Black Friday.
Store-wide discounts of this magnitude are scarce at high-end retailers, which avoid heavy discounting in order to maintain an exclusive aura around their luxury goods. Promotions are normally limited to leftover merchandise from previous seasons that didn’t sell, but since Barneys is liquidating everything, the sales are on 95% of the store’s goods — including seldom-discounted brands such as Prada and Bottega Veneta.
Barneys’ move to liquidate an entire chain worth of luxury goods is unprecedented, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst for fashion and handbags at research firm NPD Group.
As Barneys keeps slashing prices during the crucial holiday season, the lower prices may impact its competitors
as well.