I’m so confused. I went to a number of events during Fashion’s Night Out, including ones at Barneys New York, Prada, Norma Kamali, Bergdorf Goodman, and a a slew of boutiques on both Madison and Fifth Avenues. I saw no one shopping. I saw no one browsing the clothes. All I saw was utter madness. It was unbelievably chaotic – especially in the big department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue – and the smaller boutiques that didn’t have as much hype around celebrity appearances or free liquor were empty. In the week following the event (which took place on a global scale), word was that retailers didn’t benefit from the night financially – in fact, it cost many stores more than they made back in return (notably Barneys New York, according to Simon Doonan).
While clearly foot traffic into stores got a boost – and surely will the next time around – it remains to be seen whether that will translate into dollar signs comes 2010.
