New Head at Barneys

Barneys New York, in search of a ceo for the five months since Allen Questrom resigned to take the top job at J.C. Penney, named Howard Socol ceo and president effective immediately. Socol was most recently ceo of J. Crew, but left in January 1999 because of “differences in vision” between him and chairwoman Emily Woods. Socol had previously spent 13 years as chairman and ceo of Burdines, the Florida-based division of Federated Department Stores. During his tenure, Burdines expanded from 17 stores to 45 and from $475 million in sales to $1.4 billion. Those skills are well-suited to Barneys'goal of expansion, according to a company statement, including “continued growth and improvement in our flagship stores and the expansion of our Barneys co-op business.”

Such growth will undoubtedly be Socol's first challenge. Barneys emerged from Chapter 11 in January 1999, is still loaded with debt and has aggressive sales targets for wiping out that debt and surviving. During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, through October 2000, Barneys sales were up 10 percent from a year ago and it reduced its net loss from $8.6 million to $1.2 million. Nonetheless, Barneys is one of those luxury retailers that are bound to be affected if the recent economic slump continues.

Barneys had been run by three executive vps since Questrom's resignation. While Socol will replace Questrom as chairman, Questrom will remain on the Barneys board.