Barneys New York says it has no plans to close flagship stores

Barneys New York said it has no plans to close two of its seven flagship stores, denying a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“There is no truth to the WSJ story at all,” Dawn Brown, a spokeswoman for Barneys New York, said in an e-mail. The Journal reported today that Barneys is trying to close the Barneys store in the Shoppes at the Palazzo and another in an unidentified location.

Robert Christie, a spokesman for Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co., declined to comment. David Jackson, chief executive officer of Barneys New York’s owner, Istithmar World Capital, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Istithmar, a unit of government-owned Dubai World, said April 14 it provided “significant” additional capital to the retailer to help it manage costs. The funding would give Barneys New York flexibility to work with vendors and financial intermediaries, Istithmar said.