Bloomingdale’s is a department store chain founded in New York City. Brothers Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale opened their flagship store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1873. In 1930, the store was acquired by Federated Department Stores, Inc. and relocated to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, where it is located as of 2020. In 2007, Federated Department Stores was renamed Macy’s, Inc.

Originally a discount bazaar, during the 1950s the company began targeting wealthier consumers, emerging as an important tastemaker in fashion, furniture, and home goods. Marvin Traub, then manager of merchandising, is largely credited with transforming Bloomingdale’s into a “destination store” to showcase luxury products from around the world. Traub pioneered the retail-as-theater marketing strategy, staging spectacular displays of goods. This method was famously employed during the annual “international fair,” an immersive exposition of products from a foreign region.

In October of 1969, Traub was promoted to president of Bloomingdale’s after his successor Lawrence Lachman took over as chairman and chief executive officer. “Bloomie’s,” as it was popularly known, continued to expand throughout the 1970s, serving as a social hub for wealthy and aspirational consumers. In 1978, Lachman retired and Traub became chairman; during their joint-tenure as president and chairman, the chain grew from five locations in New York City to fifteen branches across the northeast United States. Bloomingdale’s is largely credited with popularizing the decorated shopping bag. In 1961, the company produced their first limited-edition bag as a new advertising initiative. By the early 1970s, their iconic shopping bags featured prints by prominent artists and graphic designers, spurring other chains to follow suit. The bags were so acclaimed that Andy Warhol once described the department chain as “a new kind of museum for the ‘80s.”

By the late 1980s, loosened federal restrictions on buyouts and mergers combined with new consumer shopping habits led to a sharp cultural and economic decline in the department store industry. In 1990, Bloomingdale’s filed for bankruptcy. Michael Gould became chairman and chief executive officer in 1991, ending Traub’s presidential tenure. Under Gould, the chain once known as a symbol of glamour and culture-making developed into a tasteful yet sensible brand. Throughout the 1990s, Bloomingdale’s scaled back on international merchandising, instead establishing a Bloomingdale’s exclusive clothing line and reducing the home goods sector. The company remains a high-end national retailer as of 2020.

References:

Murray Schumach, “Bloomingdale's is 100 and Is Still Looking Up,” The New York Times, September 7 1972, https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/07/archives/bloomingdales-is-100-and-is-still-looking-up.html.

Sharon Zukin, Point of Purchase: How Shopping Changed American Culture (New York: Routledge, 2004).

“Spirit of the World’s Fair Permeates Store’s Exhibition,” The New York Times, September 23 1964, https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/23/archives/spirit-of-the-worlds-pair-permeates-stores- exposition.html?searchResultPosition=8

Isadore Barmash, “Lachman Is Named Chairman, Traub No. 2 at Bloomingdale’s: Top Changes Set at Big Retailer,” The New York Times, October 17 1969, https://www.nytimes.com/1969/10/17/archives/ lachman-is-named-chairman-traub-no-2-at-bloomingdales-top-changes.html.

Marylin Bender, “Bloomingdale’s and Its Customers— Dancing Chic to, Chic,” The New York Times, 5 September 8 1974, https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/08/archives/bloomingdales-and-its- customersdancing-chic-to-chic-can-the-stores.html.

Isadore Barmash, “Lachman to Leave Bloomingdale’s,” The New York Times, February 10 1978, 6https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/10/archives/lachman-to-leave-bloomingdales-traub-is-new-chief- looking-ahead-70.html

Mary Helen Gillespie, “Shopping Bags? Try Thinking of Them as ‘Posters with Handles’", AP News, December 24 1987, https://apnews.com/fb887592e40d5d8e32a14c4dec103dc9.

Pamela Klaffke, Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping (Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2003).

Cory Benett was born on May 2, 1960 in Queens, a borough of New York City, and grew up near the south shore of Long Island. He attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he earned an associate's degree in Advertising and Communication in 1983. Benett worked in the marketing department of Bloomingdale’s department store in the early 1980s. From 1989 to 2000, he was employed as an office manager and bookkeeper at Madison Avenue marketing company Gauthier & Gilden, Inc. Benett worked as an independent contractor from 2000 to 2008. In 2008, he retired and relocated to Wilton Manors, Florida. He died on November 2, 2019.

Benett’s interests included art (favorite artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec), architecture, culture, design, fashion (favorite designer: Yves Saint Laurent; favorite illustrator: Antonio Lopez), film (favorite movie: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; favorite actress: Audrey Hepburn), history, music, photography (favorite photographer: Robert Mapplethorpe; favorite model: Ken Moody), and writing. A self-professed Francophile, Benett's personal style was at once elegant and simple. Benett especially enjoyed spending time visiting Paris, France! He also loved two-stepping to country and western hits and avidly supported the development of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (or LGBT Community Center), a hub for the LGBT communities in New York City to connect, find social services, and enjoy cultural programming.

For most of his time in New York, Benett lived on Horatio Street across from Jackson Square Park at the border between the Greenwich Village and Chelsea neighborhoods. There, he was immersed in downtown culture and a burgeoning gay scene. He consciously placed himself in the epicenter of gay life and culture. Eighth Avenue, Horatio Street, and Greenwich Avenue form the triangular shaped Jackson Square Park. West Thirteenth Street crosses through the park and leads to the LGBT Community Center.

Adapted from profile supplied by donor.