Bloomingdale's

19th century

Founding (1861)

The first Bloomingdale's was founded in New York City by Benjamin Bloomingdale and his son Lyman Bloomingdale in 1861 in its Lower East Side area, originally under the name Bloomingdale's Hoopskirts, initially focused on selling hoop skirts and European fashions. The brothers quickly identified opportunities for growth and expansion in the dynamic retail landscape of the time. In 1872, Lyman and his brother Joseph opened a second location called Bloomingdale's Great East Side Bazaar in Midtown Manhattan at 965 Third Avenue, between 56th & 57th Streets. The Bazaar later moved into three adjacent buildings further up the block before finally moving into a building at 59th St. and Third Avenue, where its flagship store remains today.

Relocations and expansion (1860s–1890s)

In the subsequent years, Bloomingdale's underwent a series of relocations and expansions. The brothers moved the store from its original location to a larger space on 59th Street and Third Avenue. As the business flourished, necessitating more significant retail space, the store moved once again to its iconic location at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue in 1886. This move marked a turning point, solidifying the store's position as a prominent retail destination.

In 1872, the store changed its name to "Bloomingdale's", reflecting the family name but also symbolized the flourishing and growth of their business.

Joseph Bloomingdale retired from the company in 1896, giving his brother Lyman full control, and Lyman's sons Hiram and Samuel inherited his shares upon his death in 1905.

20th century

As the 20th century dawned, Bloomingdale's embraced innovative retail practices. The introduction of the department store window display in the late 19th century set a trend, making the store more visually appealing and attracting attention from passersby. This approach contributed to the store's reputation for being fashion-forward.

By 1902, the store grew to occupy 80 percent of the city block between 58th St. and 59th St. to the north and south, and Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue to the east and west.[8]

After the New York City Subway debuted, the store's primary entrance was shifted to its Lexington Avenue side in 1918 to draw customers coming from the nearby IRT Lexington Avenue Line stop at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. Given that the U.S. was involved in World War I, Samuel Bloomingdale gave the American Red Cross free use of an entire floor there until the war ended. By 1927, after acquiring all the remaining portions along it, Bloomingdale's controlled 100 percent of the block, expanding the store's size to 84,000 square feet (later nearly quadrupled via newly added floor space).[8]

Like most publicly traded companies, Bloomingdale's faced severe financial problems following the Black Tuesday stock market crash in 1929, and it merged with the newly created Federated Department Stores in early 1930, which helped it survive the Great Depression.

1945–1959: American designers and fashion influence

After World War II, Bloomingdale's played a crucial role in shaping post-war American fashion. The store actively engaged with European designers and trends, as well as promoting American designers, and was an influencer in fashion trends and the evolution of American fashion sensibilities. This period marked a phase of continued growth and influence for Bloomingdale's, solidifying its status as a premier department store. By the 1950s, Bloomingdale's had become an established and influential retail institution. The store's commitment to offering a wide range of high-quality merchandise and its role in shaping fashion trends laid the foundation for its continued growth and legacy in the decades to come.[9]

First branch stores

In 1947, and tandem with America's economic boom after World War II, Bloomingdale's opened its first store outside of Manhattan in New Rochelle, a New York City suburb, where it assumed control of the former Ware's Department Store. After concluding that using pre-existing buildings could have been a better fit with its tried-and-true floor layouts, the company debuted its first custom-built store in 1949, located in the Fresh Meadows neighborhood across the East River in Queens. Over 25,000 people visited on its first day of business.[8] A store in Stamford, Connecticut followed, and then in 1959, Bloomingdale's opened its store in Hackensack, New Jersey, along the banks of the Hackensack River. The store was designed by architect William T. Snaith of the firm Loewy Associates. In 1977, a mall now called The Shops at Riverside was constructed along the southern and eastern facades of the Bloomingdale's store, which was also enlarged.

1960–1975

During the 1960s, Bloomingdale's shifted its merchandise mix to incorporate haute couture fashions imported from Paris and home furnishings from Italy. It also launched its first single designer-specific department in 1969, for Halston, one that was quickly followed later that year by a dedicated Polo Ralph Lauren boutique in its men's store. By the early 1970s, Bloomingdale's had begun embracing avant-garde European design, and following the United Nations recognition of China in 1971, it became the first American retailer to sell products from Communist-era China. Its iconic rounded logo debuted in 1972, followed a year later by its "Big Brown Bag" and "Little Brown Bag," all of which remain in use today. Bloomingdale's continued to thrive throughout the 1970s, despite New York City's turbulence at the time, partly via continued expansions into the suburbs. Its largest branch opened in White Plains, New York in 1975, with 260,000 square feet of floor space, and shortly after that, Bloomingdale's shuttered its original, but much smaller, New Rochelle branch.[8]

Expansion beyond New York area

In 1973, Bloomingdale's launched its first full-line department store outside of the New York City area in Chestnut Hill, Mass, followed by a store in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. in 1976.[10] The First Lady at the time, Betty Ford, attended its opening as its guest of honor.[8]

In 1981, Bloomingdale's opened a branch at the King of Prussia Mall in suburban Philadelphia, then the largest mall in the world. Other new stores opened as well, along the East Coast, Florida, Chicago, and in Dallas, Texas.[11] In 1988, Canadian real estate developer Robert Campeau launched a hostile takeover attempt of the company, successfully acquiring it for $6.6 billion: it was the largest non-oil corporate merger ever at the time.[8]

Economic challenges (1990s)

Bloomingdale's faced continued economic challenges in the early 1990s, resulting in the closures of its Dallas, Fresh Meadows, and Stamford, Connecticut locations. In 1994, Federated Stores acquired the entire Macy's chain, which had been in bankruptcy for two years. In November 1996, Bloomingdale's expanded to California, converting four former stores of The Broadway.[8] Bloomingdale's continued growth and shuttering of duplicative locations stemming from Macy's merger.

21st century

In 2004, the company returned once again to downtown Manhattan, opening an 82,000-square-foot store – featuring an "edited" selection of the flagship store's offerings – in SoHo.

In 2007, Bloomingdale's expanded into San Diego (Fashion Valley) and Costa Mesa (South Coast Plaza), once again by replacing former Robinsons-May stores that closed in 2006, in each case because there were already existing Macy's stores in each mall. In 2006, Bloomingdale's opened its largest store save its Manhattan flagship in San Francisco's Union Square, 330000 sqft in area.

On June 1, 2007, Federated Stores changed its corporate name to Macy's, given its more robust name recognition, but left its Bloomingdale's store names intact.[8]

On February 14, 2008, parent company Macy's, Inc. announced plans to enter the Phoenix market with a 180,000-square-foot store by 2009.[12] Arizona would have been 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.[13] This store never materialized as a result of the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009.

In May 2008, Bloomingdale's began the phase-out of its Bloomingdale's By Mail catalog to greater emphasize its rapidly growing online presence at bloomingdales.com. On September 10, 2008, Macy's announced plans to open three new Bloomingdale's stores, two modeled after its SoHo store. One was intended to be a three-level 82000 sqft anchor store at The Shops at Georgetown Park in Washington, D.C.,[14] but the plan collapsed after the mall's parent company declared bankruptcy. The other two stores were completed, including a new 150000 sqft branch at Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, California,[15] and a 205000 sqft store in Santa Monica Place, in Santa Monica, CA. The latter debuted in early 2010. San Jose's debut was delayed until 2020, primarily due to the Great Recession, and Santa Monica closed in 2021 due to subpar performance.[8]

In February 2010, Macy's launched Bloomingdale's first international location in Dubai. As is the case for rival Saks Fifth Avenue, the global presence for Bloomingdale's is operated under license by a local interest: in this case, Al Tayer Group LLC, a leading UAE-based conglomerate.[16] Bloomingdale's CEO announced that the Dubai store would most likely be the only store outside of the U.S.[17] (The company's leaders later had a change of heart, and opened a branch in Kuwait in 2017.) Later in 2010, the company launched its first outlet store at Potomac Mills, located outside of Washington, D.C.[8]

In 2012, Macy's Inc. closed four Bloomingdale's stores: Minneapolis (Mall of America), Atlanta (Perimeter Mall), metro Washington DC area (White Flint Mall), and Chicagoland area (Oakbrook Center) areas.

In late 2019, Macy's announced that fur would no longer be sold in any of its stores, including Bloomingdale's department & outlet stores, as of the end of the 2020 fiscal year.[18]

As part of an initiative to better establish its New York flagship store as a "retail destination," designed to allure shoppers who primarily purchase department store goods online, Bloomingdale's introduced new departments and offerings throughout the decade, including a branch of Magnolia Bakery and a boutique for Sarah Jessica Parker's SJC Collection shoe line. It was the first department store in New York to offer the latter. In 2018 and 2019, Bloomingdale's remodeled nearly 200,000 square feet inside the store, wholly revamping its denim, cosmetics, shoes, and women's contemporary clothing departments.[8]

In March 2020, Macy's, Inc. announced that it would temporarily close all Bloomingdale's and Macy's locations as a result of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic.[19] Its original plan to reopen at the end of March quickly evaporated due to the pandemic's rapid spread, as did its intent to do so by the end of April 2020: as was the case with most brick-and-mortar retailers, Macy's ended up closing some of its stores for a year or more, with reopening days that varied depending on their locations. Some did not reopen until late 2021.

On September 9, 2022, Bloomingdale's celebrated its 150th anniversary, featuring a variety of special events and unique merchandise offerings through the end of the year at its Manhattan flagship location.[8]