Barneys New York's Boston store is open!

The store is renovated from an old movie theatre and they take advantage of the existing structure to introduce sky light to the two-floor space. The entire store was full of sun light on this sunny Friday.

I checked out the store during lunch hour. I am very impressed. For the past years I have shopped in the New York store for many times (including calling them for certain items that I couldn't find elsewhere). Now, the store in Boston will totally save my to New York. The first floor looks like a fashion museum. It features Rochas, Alaia (!!!), Ann Demeulemeester, Lanvin, Rick Owens, Martin Margiela (line 1 and line 4), Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe, Tao, Comme des Garcons, and so on. They are the most original designers in this world but not covered by adjacent Saks or Neiman Marcus for a long period of time (what a shame!). I also have to say that Barney's buyers did a great job to pick the most gorgeous pieces from the spring collections.

The men's department and Co-op are located on the second floor. Only a few designers are featured in the Co-op department, but they are the best ones in that tier.

Service is very nice. My SA was very helpful looking for sizes for me, and customers can put things on hold for up to 72 hours. Sales are not pushy, which is consistent with their culture in the New York store.

All in all, I give it 4.5 out of 5. The half point deduction is from the lack of Balenciaga ready-to-wear. I understand that there might be distribution restrictions on that brand, but for a department store like Barneys, the selection is not complete without it.