Barneys, Bergdorfs and the Jewish Shopping Vote, Pt. II

A few people have asked if I will stop shopping at Barneys.

No, I won't stop shopping there. Aside from being a semi-Semite (mom is Protestant), I don't think all people from the Middle East are evil. And, more importantly, Barneys has some really great stuff. It'll probably continue to be my favorite New York store as long as fashion director Julie Gilhart is there. But I like Bergdorfs too.

A few others seem to think that I was predicting a mass exodus of Jews from Barneys. Read it again, kids. I did no such thing. I'm not at all sure it will suffer the same fate as Harrod's. Jews in London tend to be more religious and the Palestine question is more hotly debated here. But I still thought it an interesting time to pose the question. When Investcorp bought Saks Fifth Avenue, we were not embroiled in an extended war in the Middle East, we had not been through September 11th. I haven't lived in New York since 2000, so I was curious to see if those things have caused shopping attitudes to change.