No More Clothes at Bendels?

I cannot believe it. The recession has hit high end shopping hard. Legendary 5th Avenue department store, Henri Bendel, will no longer carry clothing items. Instead, the store will focus on accessories and make up. They will also be expanding the Henri Bendel brand (their signature brown and white striped items). Six accessories-only stores are to open this year in shopping centers nationwide. They are even giving up one of their floors! Bendel's has been open since 1895, I bought my prom dress there! This scaling back scares me, first stop clothes, next stop close?

Out of all the NY department stores, Bendel's has always been unique. It is much smaller and carries much less merchandise than its competitors. They have suffered during this recession because their price point per garment is consistently higher. Over the past few years, however, they have departed from being edgier and having different merchandise, to merely having less of the same merchandise. According to NY Times Style, sales have been plummeting since October. Read more about it here. We will try and keep you updated on this, I hope New York does not lose one of it's shopping landmarks.