Giorgio’s Chief to Take Charge at Bloomingdale’s : Retailing: Michael Gould, who built up the Beverly Hills fragrance firm, faces a tough task putting the upscale department store chain back on its feet.

Michael Gould, chief executive of the Giorgio Beverly Hills fragrance firm and former head of Robinson’s department stores, will return to the East Coast to take the helm of the glitzy Bloomingdale’s chain, retailing sources confirmed Thursday.

The new job caps a dramatic professional comeback for the 48-year-old Gould, who was ousted in 1986 as chairman and chief executive of Los Angeles-based Robinson’s. Under Gould’s leadership thelast five years, Giorgio Beverly Hills has more than doubled in size, chalking up revenue exceeding $200 million in 1990 despite the fragrance industry’s overall flat sales.

Still, Gould will inherit serious headaches along with a fat salary when he arrives at New York-based Bloomingdale’s. The upscale department store chain, a symbol of 1980s conspicuous consumption, has struggled in tandem with New York’s ailing economy the last few years.

“He’s taking over the most talked-about department store of the ‘80s, which has had grievous problems in the early ‘90s in maintaining its growth, its share of the market and profitability,” said Alan Millstein, publisher of the newsletter Fashion Network Report. “He’s going to have his hands full.”

Bloomingdale’s was considered the crown jewel of the U.S. department store empire bought up by Canadian developer Robert Campeau in the late 1980s. In January, 1990, however, Bloomingdale’s and the eight other Campeau department store chains sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection, the victim of huge takeover debts.

Since the bankruptcy filing, Bloomingdale’s has closed two stores and said it will shut another, reducing the chain to 15 stores. It posted sales of $1.2 billion last year.

Sources said the official announcement of Gould’s appointment to succeed Marvin S. Traub, 66, as chairman and chief executive of Bloomingdale’s was scheduled for next week. Both executives are expected to be with the company for an interim period, but Gould is expected to take control of Bloomingdale’s long before Traub’s contract expires in 1993.

Avon Products, which owns Santa Monica-based Giorgio Beverly Hills, has not had time to choose a replacement for Gould, a source said.

Officials of Federated Stores, the parent of Bloomingdale’s, have acknowledged previously that they were searching for a successor to Traub. Earlier, it was reported that the search was narrowed to Gould and Roger Farah, chief executive of Rich’s, Federated Stores’ Atlanta-based chain.

At Bloomingdale’s, Gould will report to an old friend and competitor, Allen I. Questrom, chairman of Federated Stores’ department store divisions. When Gould was chairman of Robinson’s, Questrom headed cross-town rival Bullock’s.

The two have known each other since the late 1960s, when both started in the department store business at Brooklyn’s Abraham & Straus.

Gould left A&S; in 1978 to join Robinson’s as a senior vice president. He rose to chairman and chief executive of the Los Angeles chain in 1981. He was credited with instilling new life at Robinson’s with European fashions and splashy promotions. But as the chain’s operating expenses jumped, he fell out of favor with the chairman of the company that then owned Robinson’s, Associated Dry Goods, and was pushed out.