Happy Holidays at Barneys: Sales Rise, Simon Doonan Plans Elf Video

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Today WWD brings us another installment in the ongoing soap opera that is Barneys' financial state. This time, thank goodness, we get neither dire news nor dubious in-house denials of dire news, but signs that something genuinely positive is happening over there. To wit: "Sales rose 7 percent on a comparable-store basis in October after being down 9 percent in September." OK, so it's just seven percent, but for the first time in ages business at Barneys is looking up.

It's possible that you've already felt the impact of this in your own inbox, which ought to be empty of fliers promising sales—unlike last year, Black Friday isn't coming early. A company VP attributes this to a combination of "frugal fatigue" and Wall Street bonuses, meaning that your friends in finance are sick of saving money and therefore preventing you from buying Phillip Lim at 70% off. (We're pretty sure a similar phenomenon kicked off a revolution in Paris in 1848.) But the brand also has other tactics to boost sales, including a new blog and an as-yet-unreleased Simon Doonan holiday video titled "The Cranky Elf." We're holding our breath for that one.
· Barneys Optimistic After Sales Gain [WWD, subscription req'd]
· Unlike All that Lanvin, Barneys Itself Is Not For Sale [Racked]
· Barneys Strikes Back: No Plans To Close Stores [Racked]