Barneys New York is closing a store on Broadway between 75th and 76th Streets on the Upper West Side of New York City. The store, one of three in the city and smaller than the other two, will close on 18 February, 2018.

Like many of its department store peers, Barneys has worked to upgrade the concept of a department store and was actually ahead of many in forging a shoppable Instagram page back in 2015. But the company was traded several times among private equity firms and now seems to have gained control over an overwhelming debt load.

While department stores in general are under pressure, Barneys does have some advantages over its larger rivals. It is leaner and possibly nimbler, has reaped the benefits of being a luxury retailer with just a few locations, almost exclusively in downtown centres of larger cities. Barneys has also worked to rationalize its assortment to differentiate its merchandise and avoid heavy discounts. Two years ago, for example, the company offered 41% fewer new handbag lines over the holidays, after boosting its assortment by 46% the previous year.

The company, like many department stores, has also seen sales rise in its off-price Barneys Warehouse unit. Under private ownership, it's not clear how Barneys is doing these days, although Fortune in 2016 declared the company had staged "a remarkable comeback." That year, the company opened a store on the same block in lower Manhattan where its flagship stood for three quarters of a century.