At Bloomingdale’s White Plains, General Manager Lorri Baldwin is always on the go and wouldn’t have it any other way, as she said each day in retail offers something different.
That goes double this fall as Bloomie’s ramps up the brand’s version of quiet luxury – a big trend on TikTok — with a combination of marketing campaigns and renovations in line with parent company Macy’s “Bold New Chapter.”
October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is always a busy month for Bloomingdale’s, with its “Give Pink Get More” campaign. Participating shoppers sign up for $15, which Bloomingdale’s donates to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) and The Tutu Project, the latter helping breast cancer patients with costs not covered by insurance. In return, Baldwin said, shoppers get up to $250 in rewards on qualifying purchases. (Over the past 20 years, Bloomingdale’s has donated more than $18 million to breast cancer research and aid.)
Another fall perennial is “The Makeup Date” – held this year on Saturday, Oct. 5 — a kind of Halloween for cosmetics and perfume lovers, featuring plenty of treats (samples, giveaways, discounts and refreshments, with qualified purchases), and no tricks.
These October activities have coincided with the “From Italy With Love” promotion in food products, home goods, clothing and accessories, which continues through the end of the month. It will be followed, Baldwin said, with a tie-in to the movie “Wicked: Part One,” in theaters Nov. 27.
All this has been but a prelude, however, to a number of renovations designed to increase the store’s luxury quotient, she added, beginning with Rebag x Bloomingdale’s, a partnership between the store and the consignment/resale company that includes a dedicated space off a side entrance to the main floor for pre-owned handbags and accessories by Bulgari, Goyard, Harry Winston, Hermès, Rolex and Van Cleef & Arpels, to name a few.
Not far from Rebag on the main floor is the expanded and refurbished fine jewelry department – a staple of Bloomingdale’s White Plains, as is cosmetics, which is getting a refresh, Baldwin said.
Fine jewelry is in the process of getting even more of a makeover, with an elegant, airy gray and white space for offerings by Marco Bicego, Roberto Coin, Lagos and David Yurman already completed. There will be increased inventory throughout fine jewelry, still under renovation.
“It’s a significant expansion, because our customers here want more,” Baldwin said. “It’s a really integral part of our brand.
Indeed, she added, Bloomingdale’s fine jewelry has been the place that people have come to for important occasions, be those weddings or such coming-of-age events as bar and bas mitzvahs and quinceañeras.
“You hear people say this is the place where I got my first pair of diamond earrings.”
Other new features include a dedicated space for Skims, Kim Kardashian’s line of size-inclusive shapewear (end of October); Boll & Branch, luxe bedding and towels (end of October); and Le Labo, niche French fragrances and skin, hair and grooming products (mid-November).
There’s also a new baby registry to go with the longstanding wedding registry.
It’s all designed to reinforce the idea of Bloomingdale’s in shoppers’ minds as what Baldwin called “the destination of their lives.”
