A rendering of the new Freds at Barneys New York at Copley Place in Boston, MA, which will open in October.

This fall, a new restaurant will open inside the Barneys New York department store at Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts. It marks another step in the march of retailers into the restaurant business.

Freds, the high-end department store chain's restaurant brand, has origins that date back to the 1920s, when — under a different name — it was a counter-service operation selling roast-beef sandwiches at 17th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. Now, there are five Freds restaurants up and running in Barneys stores — two in New York and one each in Beverly Hills, Chicago and San Francisco.

And there's plenty of room for the retailer to continue to grow in the food-and-beverage industry, Barneys CEO Daniella Vitale said. Like other retailers, Barneys is looking for ways to keep pace in an era of online shopping.

"If you asked me five years ago if we were in the restaurant business, I would say, I don't know if there was a strategy behind it," she said. "In hindsight, we should have moved much more quickly to make sure there were restaurants in all of our stores. ... We won't do a project anymore without a big restaurant component."

On a Wednesday in May around noon, the Freds dining room at Barneys on Madison Avenue was packed with a lively lunch crowd.

Businesspeople picked at truffle oil-embellished focaccia bread and grilled calamari appetizers. Women ahead of an afternoon shopping excursion munched on $38 Palm Beach Shrimp Salads and sides of Freds' famous, $12 Belgian Pommes Frites dipped in mayo. Parents sipped from wine glasses, while rambunctious kids dug into margherita pizzas.

"When we first opened [Freds] downtown, quite frankly we lost money because we needed the restaurant to get up and running. We had to make sure we had the right amount of service, the right bartenders, that the quality was exceptional," Vitale said. "We did that, and now we make money."

Barneys could certainly use the boost, as its sector is suffering. America's department stores are increasingly losing market share as more consumers are buying directly from brands and skipping trips to the mall. Barneys also got hit with a brutal rent hike at its flagship store on Madison Avenue in January.

And Barneys isn't the only retailer growing its food business.

Neiman Marcus is serving up craft cocktails, house-made pastas and seasonal potluck at its restaurant called The Zodiac Room at the Hudson Yards mall in New York. Nordstrom's new flagship store for women, opening later this fall in New York, will have six eateries inside, including a cocktail bar on the shoe floor and a space called Jeannie's that's "ideal for families" and serves pizza and salads, according to the company.

Beyond the department stores, Restoration Hardware has six U.S. restaurants, including a glitzy eatery and rooftop sitting area at its recently opened New York store, headed up by restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff, the man behind Chicago's popular Au Cheval. RH CEO Gary Friedman has told analysts the New York restaurant is on pace to bring in as much as $12 million in sales annually and closer to $17 million when food can be served on the outdoor patio, which currently isn't allowed.

Ralph Lauren has three Ralphs coffee shops in New York and three in Asia. And Urban Outfitters' Anthropologie brand has seven Terrain Cafes in the U.S., including three in California, serving fried cauliflower sandwiches at brunch and roasted chicken with farro grains for dinner.