Built in 1931, Photographed in 2004
Bloomingdale's, a chain of upscale American department stores owned by Macy's, Inc., has 36 stores
nationwide, with annual sales of $1.9 billion dollars. Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers
Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on
Manhattan's Lower East Side. In 1872, Bloomingdale's expanded and opened their East Side Bazaar, a
harbinger of the modern "department store."
In 1886, it moved to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, still their flagship store, anticipating and
capitalizing on the northern movement of New York's upper and middle classes. By 1929,
Bloomingdale's covered an entire city block. Two years later, the glamorous Art Deco edifice that still
graces Lexington Avenue was completed.
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