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Three Fun Facts from the Bergdorf Goodman Documentary

Photo by Brian Harkin
Photo by Brian Harkin

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Later this spring, Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf Goodman will hit theaters. The documentary, filmed in conjunction with Bergdorf's 111th anniversary, features testimonials from a WWD's worth of fashion luminaries, including Michael Kors, Rachel Zoe, Oscar de la Renta, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, and the Olsen twins.

There are vignettes about Bergdorf's hilarious, sharp-tongued personal shopper Betty Halbreich, about what it takes to impress legendary buyer Linda Fargo, and about how window designer David Hoey assembled the 2011 Christmas displays. And there's also a lot of good gossip. Read on for our favorite three tidbits, in countdown form.

3.) The Goodman family used to live on the top floor of the building. Of course, plenty of old-school New York merchants use to live above their stores, but usually they had three-room tenement apartments. The Goodmans, on the other hand, had a 16-room penthouse with Central Park views. The kicker: In order to get zoning rights, they had to be listed as the company janitors.

2) Yoko Ono once bought 70 furs on Christmas Eve. Store furriers were irritated when she dragged them out to the Dakota the night before Christmas, but she single-handedly saved their bottom line in a year when sales were low.

1) Salespeople can earn up to $500,000. Maybe. The movie plays very coy with this factoid. First, it shows a Bergdorf rep refusing to discuss how much sales associates make. Then, we hear the filmmaker's voice in conversation with a shopper, asking him what he'd say if he learned that the person who just helped him is making between $450,000 to $500,000. So the number is technically floated as a hypothetical—but still, when we left yesterday's screening, it was all anyone wanted to talk about.
· 85 & Awesome! Meet Bergdorf's Style Dynamo [Refinery29]
· All Bergdorf Goodman coverage [Racked NY]

Bergdorf Goodman

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