Barneys Out!

Barneys New York is going out of business.

The high fashion department store in New York City is shuttering and liquidation sales are in effect.

Store liquidation at Barneys New York started on Friday.

Private sales will begin next week for Barneys' "most loyal" customers, the Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group said. Store closing sales will begin at five flagship Barneys New York stores and Barneys Warehouse locations.

The other locations are beginning their sales.

Barneys was best known for numerous incidents involving Black customers being profiled by store security.

Former employees said that sales staff and security would ridicule Black customers and call them dirty and poor.

Black customer was detained after he paid with his credit card a $350 belt. They thought he stole a credit card.

One former employee told HuffPost, "Their card is probably not going to go through," they'd say. "I don't know why they come in here and want to try stuff on that they know they're not going to buy."

"If a Black person comes in with a sweatshirt or sneakers some of the white sales associates would be on the floor saying: 'Why are they even here? They're probably going to scam,'" said the former associate.

The former associate added, "They would say this stuff in front of me. Sometimes I would just walk away, and sometimes I would say, 'You never know.'"

CNBC reports that the company will work to "quickly sell through all inventory during the upcoming holiday season." Sales will be offered online.

It was also announced Friday that the store's flagship Madison Avenue outlet in Manhattan will remain open for at least another year in a slimmed down form while the buyer of the luxury retailer's brands negotiates with the store's landlord.

A bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Barneys brands and other intellectual property to Authentic Brands, a firm that acquires and licenses, on Thursday. The deal closed on Friday, Authentic Brands said.

The store's well-known eatery, Fred's, will remain open for now.

Woman who shopped at Barneys was profiled after she bought an expensive handbag. They called her a dirty poor woman.

I know one former customer is not complaining about Barneys demise, Trayon Christian.

He was then a 19-year old who sued Barneys in Manhattan Supreme Court after he was falsely accused of shoplifting a $359 Ferragamo belt he bought at the Madison Avenue store. After Christian's story spread, 21-year old nursing student Kayla Phillips alleged that she faced a racial profiling incident at the store. She bought a $2,500 Celine handbag.

Barneys' demise began when they decided to shun Black customers. Shopping while Black is a thing in the United States. Perceived biases towards Black customers being shoplifters and scam artists has made the company use their "Loss Prevention" standards.

The company's demands to stop theft by profiling customers became their downfall.

I believe that equity firms are the problem in the United States.

When equity firms pile debt on companies and interest rates increase, companies struggle to payback the loans. That's why Sears Holding Group, Toys R Us, Things Remembered, Payless Shoe Source and Bon Ton have suffered because of equity firms.