Bergdorf Goodman

Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury department store at 754 Fifth Avenue, overlooking Grand Army Plaza and Central Park at the corner of West 58th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The business traces its origins to 1899, when French-born tailor Herman Bergdorf opened a shop in Manhattan and later took Edwin Goodman into partnership, creating Bergdorf Goodman in 1901. The company gradually moved north along Fifth Avenue as New York’s fashionable shopping district shifted uptown. Its present home was constructed in 1927–1928 on the site of the enormous Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion, once one of the largest private residences on Fifth Avenue. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, with Ely Jacques Kahn principally responsible for the design, the Modern Classical building incorporates French-inspired details, white marble façades and mansard roofs. It was originally conceived as seven visually unified commercial buildings, with Bergdorf Goodman occupying only the northern portion before gradually expanding across most of the complex. The store’s principal Fifth Avenue façade was substantially redesigned during the 1980s, and in 1990 Bergdorf Goodman opened a separate men’s store across the street at 745 Fifth Avenue. The original building was designated a New York City Landmark in 2016 and remains one of the most prominent survivors from Fifth Avenue’s development into an international centre for luxury retail.

Bergdorf Goodman has appeared in How to Murder Your Wife (1965), Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), Arthur (1981), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), Sex and the City (1998–2004), The Nanny Diaries (2007), Sex and the City 2 (2010), Ocean’s 8 (2018), Hustlers (2019), Halston (2021) and And Just Like That… (2021–2025). Filmmakers have used its entrances, sales floors, beauty department, bridal registry, restaurants, dressing rooms and shoe department, often allowing Bergdorf Goodman to play itself as shorthand for wealth, fashion and the privileged world surrounding Fifth Avenue. Several productions go considerably further than simply using its façade, with pivotal character meetings, arguments and comic sequences filmed inside the operating department store.

In How to Murder Your Wife (1965), Bergdorf Goodman appears as part of cartoonist Stanley Ford’s elaborate attempt to act out a fictional murder before drawing it for his newspaper comic strip. Stanley has become frustrated with married life and decides that his comic-strip alter ego, Bash Brannigan, should dispose of his wife so that the character can return to his old adventures. Because Stanley habitually stages his stories in real life and photographs them before drawing them, he needs a substitute for his actual wife during the supposed killing. He goes to Bergdorf Goodman to obtain a female department-store mannequin, which he later dresses in Mrs Ford’s clothes. After drugging his real wife during a party so that she sleeps through the operation, Stanley uses the mannequin to photograph himself apparently disposing of her body in a concrete mixer at the construction site behind his townhouse. The resulting comic strip later becomes disastrous evidence against him when Mrs Ford disappears for real and the authorities assume that Stanley has carried out the murder he so carefully illustrated.

In Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), Bergdorf Goodman provides the setting for one of the film’s most extravagant public arguments between television executive Bones Burton and her wealthy married lover Max Herschel. Their volatile relationship is built around Max’s assumption that his money allows him to control almost everything around him, while Bones increasingly demands independence and a life of her own. Their conflict spills spectacularly into Bergdorf Goodman, where Bones follows Max through the luxury department store and repeatedly attacks him with her handbag. What begins as another confrontation between the pair develops into a physical, slapstick battle in the middle of the sales floor, creating a deliberate collision between their chaotic personal relationship and one of Manhattan’s most refined shopping environments. Director Sidney Lumet filmed the sequence inside the real store, making Bergdorf Goodman one of the recognisable New York institutions incorporated directly into the comedy.

In Arthur (1981), Bergdorf Goodman is where wealthy alcoholic Arthur Bach first meets Linda Marolla, beginning the relationship that eventually forces him to choose between love and his enormous inheritance. After reluctantly agreeing to marry Susan Johnson in order to avoid being cut off financially, Arthur attempts to improve his mood by spending extravagantly in Bergdorf Goodman’s men’s department with his butler Hobson. He notices Linda slipping a necktie into her bag and is immediately fascinated rather than offended by the theft. The tie is intended as a birthday present for her unemployed father. When a security guard follows Linda outside and confronts her beside Pulitzer Fountain at Grand Army Plaza, Arthur and Hobson follow. Linda loudly protests her innocence until Arthur intervenes, claiming that she had taken the tie for him and that he simply forgot to pay for it. To make the story convincing he kisses her in front of the guard and tells him to charge the tie to his account. Once the guard leaves, Linda introduces herself and Arthur asks for her telephone number before offering her his limousine for the journey home. The sequence therefore moves directly from the real Bergdorf Goodman interior to Grand Army Plaza immediately outside and establishes the central romance of the film.

In The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Bergdorf Goodman becomes Miss Piggy’s workplace after the Muppets separate while Kermit continues trying to sell their Broadway musical Manhattan Melodies. Piggy finds employment behind the perfume counter, where she sells the fictional fragrance Quelle Différence alongside fellow saleswoman Eileen, played by Joan Rivers. Distraught over her belief that Kermit may be romantically interested in Jenny, Piggy discusses her troubles with Eileen, who decides that what she needs is a makeover. Piggy initially points out one fundamental problem with the suggestion – pigs do not have eyebrows – but Eileen simply draws some on. The makeover quickly gets out of control as Piggy and Eileen enthusiastically cover one another in cosmetics, laughing harder as the counter becomes increasingly chaotic. Their manager eventually arrives, surveys the mess and fires both of them. The sequence was filmed inside the real Bergdorf Goodman, which the production rented for the shoot. Frank Oz later recalled that he and Rivers initially struggled to make their laughter feel spontaneous, so they each drank a couple of Bloody Marys before filming the increasingly uncontrolled second half of the scene.

In Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), Bergdorf Goodman appears during the growing relationship between wealthy murder witness Claire Gregory and police detective Mike Keegan. After Claire witnesses the murder of her friend Win Hockings, Mike is assigned to protect her from killer Joey Venza. Their radically different backgrounds initially separate them: Claire lives among Manhattan’s wealthy social elite, while Mike comes from a working-class Queens family. When Claire insists on attending a reception at the Guggenheim Museum despite the danger, Mike accompanies her as security. On the way, she decides that his necktie is unsuitable for the occasion and takes him into Bergdorf Goodman to replace it. Claire insists on buying the new tie herself and jokes that, given enough time, she would replace his suit as well. The apparently minor shopping stop emphasises the class difference between them while also showing Claire taking an increasingly personal interest in Mike. They then continue to the Guggenheim, where Venza manages to approach Claire in the women’s bathroom and threaten her despite the police protection surrounding her.

In Sex and the City (1998–2004), Bergdorf Goodman appears prominently in the third-season episode “All or Nothing”, broadcast in 2000. Charlotte York and her fiancé Trey MacDougal visit the bridal registry department to choose china for their forthcoming marriage. Charlotte falls in love with an extremely expensive pattern costing around $1,300 per plate, prompting Trey to joke about the financial consequences before ultimately giving in because he wants her to have what she loves. The scene initially presents exactly the kind of affluent, traditional marriage Charlotte has spent years imagining for herself. The mood abruptly changes when Trey prepares to return to the hospital and hands her paperwork for their engagement arrangements. Hidden among it is the MacDougal family’s prenuptial agreement. Charlotte is shocked that he has presented something so important so casually, while Trey treats it as a routine legal matter and tells her to have her lawyer examine it. The Bergdorf Goodman wedding-registry scene therefore begins with fantasy shopping and ends by introducing the financial and family tensions that will become increasingly important in Charlotte and Trey’s marriage.

In The Nanny Diaries (2007), Bergdorf Goodman is where Annie Braddock undergoes a lunch interview with the wealthy Upper East Side mother she will come to know as Mrs X. Annie has recently graduated from college without knowing what she wants to do with her life and unexpectedly finds herself in demand as a prospective nanny. Mrs X chooses what she calls a more “civilized” lunch at Bergdorf’s rather than interviewing Annie at the family apartment, although she quickly admits that the real attraction is simply that she enjoys eating out. The conversation immediately demonstrates how far Annie is from Mrs X’s privileged social world. When Annie orders a burger, Mrs X worries that the meat may not be antibiotic-free and instead recommends the crêpe Bretagne because the chef comes from Brittany. She then rushes through the interview because she has to attend a lecture called “Super Mom, Trying to Juggle It All”, an irony that foreshadows how much of the actual childcare she will delegate to Annie. The production filmed inside the real Bergdorf Goodman as part of its extensive use of genuine Manhattan locations.

In Sex and the City 2 (2010), Bergdorf Goodman appears almost immediately after the opening credits. Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes meet at the store to shop from the wedding registry of Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marentino, whose decision to marry has surprised all four women because the two men previously disliked each other. At the registry counter they explain that Stanford is Carrie’s best friend and Anthony is Charlotte’s, before joking that the pair are like the last two people standing when the music stops in a game of musical chairs. The sequence leads directly into their trip to Connecticut for Stanford and Anthony’s spectacular wedding. Using Bergdorf Goodman for the registry scene reconnects the film with the luxury-shopping geography established in Sex and the City (1998–2004), while also providing the first indication of how much has changed in the characters’ lives since the first film.

In Ocean’s 8 (2018), Bergdorf Goodman is one of the first places Debbie Ocean visits after serving more than five years in prison, immediately demonstrating that her claims of rehabilitation to the parole board were entirely false. Debbie enters the beauty department and calmly collects several expensive cosmetics before approaching the counter as though she intends to return merchandise she has already purchased. When the saleswoman asks for a receipt, Debbie acts irritated by the inconvenience, announces that she will simply keep everything instead and then asks for a Bergdorf Goodman shopping bag. The employee obligingly places the unpaid cosmetics in the bag and Debbie walks out without spending anything. The beautifully simple con establishes how effortlessly she manipulates ordinary social expectations before she proceeds to another scam that secures her a room at a luxury hotel. These opening tricks introduce Debbie’s abilities before she reunites with Lou and reveals the far more ambitious plan to steal the Toussaint necklace from the Met Gala.

In Hustlers (2019), Bergdorf Goodman appears during the shopping sequences illustrating the extraordinary amount of money being earned by Ramona Vega, Destiny and the other dancers. Early in their friendship, Ramona teaches Destiny how to identify wealthy Wall Street customers, maximise their spending and take control of interactions inside the strip club. Their rapidly improving fortunes are reflected in montages of the women buying expensive clothes and accessories at high-end Manhattan stores. Bergdorf Goodman was one of the real stores used for this material, with filming taking place overnight after normal business hours. The location returned as the women’s scheme became more profitable and luxury consumption increasingly became part of the world they had created around themselves. Jennifer Lopez documented the unusual shoot from inside the otherwise empty store at around three o’clock in the morning, joking about having Bergdorf Goodman virtually to herself while the production worked through the night.

In Halston (2021), Bergdorf Goodman appears in the opening episode, “Becoming Halston”, reflecting the store’s genuine importance in the early career of fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick. Halston had worked as a milliner at Bergdorf Goodman before attempting to transform himself from a celebrated hat designer into an independent fashion brand. In the series, he rides the escalator through Bergdorf’s while explaining that he has designed hats for the store since 1961 and declaring his ambition to become larger than Ralph Lauren. He subsequently meets a Bergdorf Goodman manager and proposes creating what he calls a “store within a store”. Rather than selling only hats or individual garments, Halston wants customers to enter a complete branded world where virtually everything they wear – dresses, underwear, hosiery and shoes – can carry his name. The scene encapsulates the increasingly ambitious idea behind the Halston brand and his desire to turn a designer’s name into an entire lifestyle. The first-episode Bergdorf material was filmed inside the real department store rather than recreated on a soundstage.

In And Just Like That… (2021–2025), Bergdorf Goodman returns to the world of Carrie Bradshaw and her friends several times, most prominently during the third and final season in 2025. In “Present Tense”, Carrie retreats to the Bergdorf Goodman shoe department after an argument with Aidan Shaw and begins browsing as a form of retail therapy. There she encounters Daniel, a shoe salesman played by Andy Cohen, who tells her that he is too busy to help immediately. The cameo deliberately echoes Cohen’s uncredited appearance as a Barneys New York shoe salesman in Sex and the City (1998–2004). While Carrie is looking at shoes, Aidan texts asking her to meet him for lunch, leading into another difficult conversation about his inability to trust her around other men. Bergdorf Goodman appears again in “Forget About the Boy”, where Giuseppe brings Anthony Marentino into a dressing room and unexpectedly gets down on one knee to propose. Anthony accepts, but the age difference between them soon feeds his anxiety that Giuseppe may see him less as an equal partner than as a parental figure. The two scenes allow Bergdorf Goodman to bookend very different relationship turning points while continuing the store’s long association with the Sex and the City universe.

Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

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