Shop Talk

Check out the end of Barneys’ two-year wait for a new CEO.

Well it was about time. After two years of having a committee of seven executives share CEO duties, luxury department store Barneys has finally named a permanent CEO. And he’s got quite the pedigree:  incoming CEO Mark Lee, who starts his new job on Sept. 1, was  CEO of Gucci from 2004 through 2008. Earlier in his career, he had stints at companies like Yves Saint Laurent, Saks, Giorgio Armani and Jil Sander.

The Barneys CEO suite had sat empty since 2008, when Howard Socol’s gig ended.

You’d think more people would have been chomping at the bit to run such a famous, beloved company. But then again, Barneys has only just started to emerge from some trouble. The company is saddled with a lot of debt and some stores are said to be struggling. But Barneys has been riding the uptick in  luxury spending and a source told us in June Barneys was  on pace to be beat its 2010 projections.

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(Picture: Reuters)