Expansion became a priority. Barneys opened its first stores outside of Manhattan in Chicago and Beverly Hills. The company found a partner, Japanese retailer Isetan, which invested $600 million in Barneys to fund the brand’s growth to 13 stores across the U.S.

But by 1996 tensions between Barneys and Isetan developed and the spat led to bankruptcy proceedings. Yet in the 2000s, it started expanding its store count yet again, opening new spots in Boston, Las Vegas and San Francisco. In 2013, the company reclaimed its store on the original block where Barney Pressman sold his dusty suits on Madison Avenue in Chelsea.

In 2012, Perry Capital, owned by Richard Perry, gained control of Barneys, swapping its debt for equity in a restructuring that significantly cut the company’s big debt load.

But even the Madison Avenue store that gave Barneys such attention and credibility in New York’s cutthroat department store scene became a source of dismay. Annual rent tripled this year, spurring Barneys to consider downsizing its store and worked on a restructuring plan to cope with the cost.

“Like many in our industry, Barneys New York’s financial position has been dramatically impacted by the challenging retail environment and rent structures that are excessively high relative to market demand,” Chief Executive Officer Daniella Vitale said in a statement Tuesday.

The challenges remain especially tough even in its hometown. Neiman Marcus and soon Nordstrom are opening their first massive flagships on Barneys’s turf, after they had stayed away from Manhattan for decades. Meanwhile, the city’s oldest stores are investing more than $500 million to modernize, with mass renovations under way at Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.

Only five full-line Barneys locations will remain: Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Boston and the two in New York. A pair of Barneys Warehouse outlet shops will keep their doors open as well. The company plans to go forward with two new store openings, including one inside New Jersey’s upcoming American Dream mall, which is slated to open in October. Another is planned for Miami’s Bal Harbour Shops, one of the best-performing shopping centers in the country, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Barneys has found some success in coastal markets, attracting younger shoppers who may carry the retailer in the future. This year, it opened “The High End,” a cannabis and wellness concept shop in its Beverly Hills store. 

These partnerships still might not be enough to capture a steady stream of shoppers. Hurdles remain, among them a flurry of luxury e-commerce companies, such as Net-A-Porter and Farfetch, said Sucharita Kodali, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Barneys was “one of the weaker companies in e-commerce to start with,” she said. “If everybody else is moving faster than you are, that doesn’t help you either.”