Barneys: new home, new style, new shoes

For shopaholics, it is a scene out of a dream: 16,448 square feet of designer shoes, handbags and clothes.

Red exterior awnings set the stage as natural light and a shimmering "Phantom of the Opera"-esque chandelier above the staircase dominate the spacious interior.

Friday, Seattle's fashion elite will strut over to Barneys New York in its new home at Pacific Place.

Since its beginnings in 1923 as a Manhattan men's suit store, Barneys has become a destination for upscale shoppers:

Helmut Lang, Prada, Fendi for women.

Marc by Marc Jacobs, Paul Smith, Richard James for men.

The store flashes prices — $325 Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and $192 7 for All Mankind jeans — that might cause a cringe or two when the bill arrives.

Sharing space with such glittering names as Tiffany & Co. and Cartier, the new Barneys is a third larger than its former location in Seattle's City Centre and will have about 10 percent more employees.

Barneys' Executive Vice President Michael Celestino says the location at Sixth and Pine will increase foot traffic tenfold.

"This is the hub of retail" in Seattle, Celestino said during a pre-opening tour as workers swarmed around, dressing mannequins and hanging pictures in the store windows.

"We wanted to give our customers in Seattle a bigger store to shop in," says Timothy Elliott, public-relations manager. "And the store will kind of reflect what we have in our current flagships but in a smaller, edited version."

Part of the expansion includes a wider selection of women's accessories, cosmetics and designer collections. For example, inside a clear, walk-in cylindrical booth at the front door, customers can sample the latest Frédéric Malle fragrance before perusing one of the jewelry cases.

And fashionistas — hold onto your Miu Miu handbag — the shoe salon is even bigger. Celestino says women's shoes are a growth opportunity for the store, which is across the street from a home-grown retailer that got its start selling women's shoes — Nordstrom.

The store is split into two floors; the ground level is distinctly more polished with marble tile and hardwood floors. Featureless "fairy blue" mannequins flaunt black Prada bags over their shoulders. The industrial-looking second floor is home to the CO-OP, what Elliott refers to as a "laboratory for emerging designers." The CO-OP includes contemporary sportswear and designer denim at noticeably lower prices than on the first floor.

And at Barneys, it's not all about the clothes.

"We have great customer service," Celestino says. "We put things together that will help [the customer] stand out."

He says Barneys expects 250 of the store's best customers in the area to attend a cocktail reception in the store this evening.

Until last Friday, the Manhattan institution had been a jewel of Jones Apparel Group Inc. since 2004. But Jones sold Barneys for $825 million to Istithmar, a Dubai-based private equity group.

The change in ownership does not affect the new downtown store's Friday opening.

"It will be a full Barneys New York experience at Pacific Place," Elliott says.

Caroline Davis: 206-464-3329 or cdavis@seattletimes.com