Bloomingdale's 59th Street Undergoes The Biggest Makeover in NYC

Bloomingdale's flagship 59th Street store will complete The Biggest Makeover in New York City next week. The store's famous black and white BWAY on the main floor, carrying an impressive collection of cosmetics vendors, has been fully renovated and upgraded with 21st Century technology. In addition to its current roster of cosmetics vendors, six new brands will launch for the first time at 59th Street. The transformation of the 25,400-square-foot cosmetics department is the culmination of a complete store renovation that began in 2004.

"The overall goal of The Biggest Makeover in NYC was to create a floor that has the largest and most dynamic world of beauty in the City," said Michael Gould, chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale's. "What we will achieve will be the creation of a highly interactive world of beauty, the introduction of six top brands, and a beautiful and cohesive floor design."

"In addition to upgrading each vendor shop or counter, we wanted to recreate the floor in its entirety," said Jack Hruska, executive vice president of creative services for Bloomingdale's. "We've taken the cosmetics department from one large, open room to three distinct rooms. This allows us to present our brands in a much more powerful and cohesive way."

The department's three rooms allow for more impactful presentations from each cosmetics resource by raising their visual area in height from 5'6" to 10'3". A wide, black glass trim, known as the eyebrow, extends above each vendor shop to the 13'6" ceiling and, along with the brand's iconic black and white floors, ties the three rooms together and create a unified department. Yet, each room has its own personality--one accented in white glass, one in black glass, and one in a black and silver leaf motif. Special diffusion lighting eliminates shadows on the floor, and creates a significant drop in electrical consumption, thereby allowing 59th Street to become a more energy efficient store.

By moving a portion of menswear from the main floor to the lower level, the beauty department was able to pick up an additional 4,400 square feet of space to accommodate new brands, as well as wider aisles. The design provides for larger aisles in both directions--from Lexington Avenue to Third Avenue, and from 59th Street to 60th Street--a move that increases flow and circulation on the floor. Hruska and his store design team worked with Callison RYA Studio on the design of the floor and Seaboard Construction served as the General Contractor.

New brands to Bloomingdale's 59th Street include Giorgio Armani; Bare Escentuals; Bumble and bumble; Jo Malone; Sisley; and shu uemura. These new vendors add depth and breadth to the floor--in product array, services, and even design. Bumble and bumble has created its first outpost in a department store with the Bb.StylingBar and shop--a 'no wash, no appointment' dry styling counter. A Tokyo Lash Bar at shu uemura's oval-shaped shop adds a new customization option for Bloomingdale's guests.

These new brands join existing resources, including: Benefit; Bobbi Brown; Borghese; CHANEL; Clarins; Clinique; Dior; Estee Lauder; Kiehl's; La Mer; La Prairie; Lancome; Laura Mercier; M.A.C.; Prescriptives; Shiseido; SK-II; Space NK; Trish McEvoy; and Yves Saint Laurent.

A 1,300-square-foot Cosmetics Studio, open 362 days a year, boasts the ability be transformed for master classes, special events and luxury skin treatments. The room holds up to 30 temporary makeup stations for master classes with top makeup artists. It can also be transformed by hidden walls into three separate treatment rooms, each of which can hold two treatment chairs, allowing for six appointments at a time. Most events are open to the public, but customers can also be able to reserve the space for private parties.

In addition to the transformation of the cosmetics department, fashion accessories, jewelry and men's dress furnishings all have recently landed in newly renovated spaces on the main floor. Men's dress furnishings sits in a new arcade on the Third Avenue end of the store, full of unique new resources, such as Alexander McQueen Accessories, Turnbull & Asser and Psycho Bunny. There is a beautiful, airy room for costume and cul de sac jewelry and accessories, and a greatly expanded fragrance room for both women's and men's brands. In addition, a dramatic, new, three-level Louis Vuitton shop opened on the main floor in February.

As part of The Biggest Makeover in NYC, David Yurman nearly doubles its space on the main floor by moving to an elegant new shop-in-shop inspired by the design of its Madison Avenue flagship store, scheduled to open in spring 2010. The space is characterized by textured, natural materials, and rich, artisanal metal finishes.

A full promotional campaign accompanies the new beauty floor, including more than 500 special events on the main floor over the course of two months, beginning October 15. Also beginning that day is a multi-channel advertising and marketing campaign to support The Biggest Makeover in NYC. Media includes local print, broadcast and online outlets, and out-of-home includes MTA buses, taxi toppers, phone booths and taxi TV.

Bloomingdale's is America's only nationwide, full-line, upscale department store; and a division of Macy's, Inc. It was founded in 1872 and currently operates 40 stores in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida, Nevada and California.