Bloomingdale’s to Turn Spotlight on New Exotic Land: the Golden State
Bloomingdale’s, the New York retailer that celebrates shopping as theater with special department store promotions on foreign countries, this spring will for the first time turn its attention domestically and feature a promotion on a state--California.
Ironically, the special collection of California apparel, home furnishings and cultural exhibits at Bloomingdale’s will be as difficult for most Californians to sample as an off-Broadway play. That’s because none of the 17 Bloomingdale’s stores now open are located west of the Rocky Mountains.
“We’ve have said that we are interested in opening a store in California,” said Bloomingdale’s Chairman Marvin S. Traub, who came to the Los Angeles Music Center on Wednesday to announce plans for the California promotion. “But we have nothing to announce on that yet.”
Major Purchases Planned
Despite its remoteness from the events, California is likely to reap significant economic benefits from the special promotion.
Traub said some 70 to 80 buyers will descend on California in the coming months to purchase more than $10 million in new apparel and accessory items for the special promotion. That’s in addition to the $30 million to $40 million that the retailer already spends annually to buy goods in the state, Traub said. Neither figure includes home furnishing items, some of which will also be purchased in the Golden State.
The special California promotion will take place in all Bloomingdale’s stores for seven weeks beginning in April. Store presentations will introduce specially developed products and also include audio-visual presentations and cultural displays from Los Angeles and San Francisco to the Sierra and the desert, Bloomingdale’s officials said.
“Bloomingdale’s customers have shown a willingness to buy California fashions up to now, and I suspect the reception to this promotion will be a good one,” Traub said.
Over the last decade, Bloomingdale’s has staged about a dozen special promotions in the fall and spring to increase traffic at its department stores, which change their interior designs and layouts to highlight a specific country. India, Japan and China have been featured, and next fall Bloomingdale’s will highlight France, officials say.
“In retailing today, there is too much sameness between department stores,” observed Gordon Cooke, Bloomingdale’s executive vice president of advertising and sales promotion. “We believe the customer needs to get a gratification beyond his purchase. Otherwise, we’d all might as well be discount stores and compete on price” alone.
