Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdale's

File:Bloomingdale's Logo.gif
Company type	Division
Industry	Retail
Founded	1860
Headquarters	New York, New York, USA
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Owner	Macy's, Inc.
Website	www.bloomingdales.com

Bloomingdale's (or Bloomie's) is an upscale, full-line American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores), which is also the parent company of Macy's. The brand includes over 60 stores.

Bloomingdale's plans to open the company's first international location in Spring 2010 with apparel and home stores in Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates.

It competes and follows after Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Barneys New York.

History

1861 Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale

Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side while their father peddled the highly fashionable hoop-skirts along the Eastern Seaboard. The pair were sons of Benjamin Bloomingdale, a Bavarian-born salesman who had lived in North Carolina and Kansas, and settled in New York City.

In 1872 the Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue with the philosophy that if they weren't going to be the first with an idea, then they simply had to do it bigger and better than anyone else.

1872 Changing Neighborhood

As the popularity of the hoop-skirt was declining, the brothers opened their East Side Bazaar in 1872 in a small, ordinary row house on Third Avenue and 56th Street, selling a variety of garments such as ladies' skirts, corsets, "gent's furnishings", and European fashions. Their location and merchandise was a bold statement for their time. At the time the East Side was a working-class neighborhood with shantytowns, garbage dumps, and stockyards. Most of their customers and competitors were in the Upper West Side, and at that time most respectable stores only specialized in one trade.

The brothers must have been aware that the neighborhood was changing. Within a few years after opening the store, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened, the new St. Patrick's Cathedral was dedicated near the store after moving from its downtown location, Central Park would be completed, and the New York subway system would begin construction. These additions brought wealthy customers to the East Side and built their brownstones that surrounded the new park.

1886 Trademark Window Displays

As the store and its success grew, it moved in 1886 to its current location on 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. The store was designed with large plate glass display windows and spacious merchandising areas. The two innovated a Bloomingdale's trademark with the presentation of merchandise. Instead of the common practice that cluttered the display windows with an assortment of the goods they sold, each window was decorated with a couple of products as props on a theatrical mise-en-scene. Many of these products were European imports, which added to the store's elegance.

By the turn of the century, Bloomingdale's growth skyrocketed, facilitated by its convenient location at a hub of New York City's horse-drawn trolley system. Offerings at the time ranged from ladies' stockings at 10¢ a pair to $10 men's wool suits and $149 upright pianos. In 1902, the advertising slogan "All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdale's" capitalized on the store's location, and the company commissioned artist Richard F. Outcault to create a series of paintings around the theme. The slogan appeared on billboards and on 5,000 free beach umbrellas offered to street vendors and delivery cart drivers.

1905 "All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdale's"

Around 1905, hard times hit as the popular upper class shopping area moved downtown along Sixth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets. In 1913, the 59th Street Station of the Lexington Avenue subway was constructed in Bloomingdale's basement, further reinforcing the "All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdale's" slogan, and business recovered. By the 1920s, the store covered the entire city block.

1930's A Flagship is Born

File:Bloomingdalesnewyork.jpg

Bloomingdale's flagship store on Lexington Avenue in New York

In 1930, Bloomingdale's would now take residence in a new location off of Lexington. The building, which had grown by spurts and starts to engulf the entire block, receiving an eleven story addition and was completely redesigned as a coherent store by architects Starrett & van Vleck in the Art Deco style. The new redesigned building started to become the showplace of Manhattan with its new fixtures and interiors giving is great beauty.

The store weathered the Great Depression and World War II by offering customers what they needed at a value. In 1949, Bloomingdale's inaugurated its first branch store in the Fresh Meadows section of Queens. Over 25,000 people came through the store on opening day.

The same year Bloomingdale's joined the retail giant Federated Department Stores, now Macy's, Inc.

1961 The Brown Bag

In 1961, the company started marketing itself with designer shopping bags to promote its "Esprit de France" exhibit. The design, by artist Jonah Kinigstein, was a reproduction of French tarot cards in dramatic shades of red, black, and white. The iconic "Brown Bag" debuted a decade later in 1973. The bags were designed by Mossimo Vignelli, who designed the current store typeface, and prominently labeled in three sizes: "Little", "Medium", and "Big". Fashion designer Michael Vollbracht designed one of the classic shopping bags- that in red, black, and white of a formally dressed man on one side and a woman on the other. Other artists who have designed shopping bags were fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez and Mark Kostabi.

In 1969 Bloomingdale's was outgrowing its flagship store and management focused on managing space in the flagship and expanding through suburban branch stores. Two branch stores opened in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Bloomingdale's launched home furnishing stores on the East Coast with products from the flagship's home furnishings department.

1972 Bloomingdale's Turns 100 Years Old

According to a survey taken around 1972, over 60 percent of its customers lived and worked in the luxury high-rise apartment and office towers nearby. Bloomingdale's catered to the neighborhood's young and affluent professional class by capitalizing on the popular trends of the day from pet rocks to glacial ice cubes. Also around this time, the careers of fashion designers such as Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Norma Kamali were launched.

In 1973, Bloomingdale's capitalized on its relationship with the young and trendy by stamping the name "Bloomie's" on ladies' panties as part of its launch for intimate apparel in 1973. The rising popularity launched Bloomingdale's into a major tourist destination, and articles stamped with "Bloomie's" became hot souvenirs.

1976 Queen Elizabeth II Visits Bloomingdale's

During Queen Elizabeth II's visit to New York City in 1976, traffic was reversed on Lexington Avenue so the Queen could exit her vehicle on its right side and enter the famous Manhattan flagship through the main entrance. Her visit cemented the popularity of the store.

Expansion

Sales continued to grow and branch stores continued to open outside of New York City in the late 1970s. The Bloomingdale's By Mail catalog launched in 1978 which expanded the store's reach to high-income households across the United States where no Bloomingdale's stores existed.

The retail market boomed in the 1980s. New stores opened along the East Coast, Florida, California, and in Dallas, Texas (which did well upon opening but closed because of Chapter 11 bankruptcy).

Expansion in the 1990s included a 1992 opening of its 15th store in the Mall of America near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and establishing a presence in California in 1996 with four stores.

The chain fortified its presence in the southeastern U.S. with two Atlanta locations in 2003, converting the longtime Davison's/R.H. Macy & Co. properties in Lenox Square and Perimeter Mall. In addition, after several years of struggling to understand the merchandise needs of the California market, it has recently begun refocusing on the state with high-profile openings in 2006 and 2007 in San Francisco, San Diego, and Costa Mesa. The San Francisco and Costa Mesa units were among the most successful openings in the chain's history.

On February 14, 2008, parent company Macy's, Inc. announced plans to enter the Phoenix market by 2009. Arizona will be the thirteenth state to have a Bloomingdale's store location, with this store being the tenth in the western U.S., and 41st throughout the chain.

On September 10, 2008, Bloomingdale's announced plans to open a 3-level, 82,000-square-foot (7,600 m²) anchor store at The Shops at Georgetown Park in Washington, D.C. by August 2011. The store is reported to be modeled after the chain's concept store in New York's SoHo neighborhood to carry select contemporary men's and women's apparel. With this announcement Western Development Corp., owner of the property, believes Georgetown Park will become "the highest fashion and trend center in the whole Washington area." Although the Phoenix and Georgetown plans have now fallen through, there are still plans for Bloomingdale's to open in Santa Monica Place and Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose.

Twelve days later, the first proposed overseas locations for the chain were announced. A September 22, 2008, press release from Macy's, Inc. told of plans for two Bloomingdale's locations (a three-level 146,000 sq ft (13,600 m²). apparel and accessories store, as well as a separate one-level 54,000 sq ft (5,000 m²). home store) to open in February 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As is the case for rival Saks Fifth Avenue, the international presence for Bloomingdale's will be operated under license by a local interest — in this case, Al Tayer Group LLC, a leading UAE-based conglomerate.

Photo gallery

• Bloomingdale's flagship store on Lexington Avenue in New York
  Bloomingdale's flagship store on Lexington Avenue in New York
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  Close-up of flagship store entrance
• 
  Flagship store during holiday season at night
• Exterior of Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, California)
  Exterior of Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, California)
• 
  Exterior of Bloomingdales Boca Raton

External links

• Bloomingdale's official website
• Bloomingdale's Happening in San Francisco website
• Macys, Inc. (Federated Department Stores)