Yes, Bloomingdale’s is still open in New York City. Its famous 59th Street flagship remains at 1000 Third Avenue, between Third and Lexington avenues, and Bloomingdale’s also operates its SoHo store at 504 Broadway and an Upper West Side outlet at 2085 Broadway. The company is owned by Macy’s, Inc., and continues to operate full-line Bloomingdale’s stores, smaller Bloomie’s locations, outlets, and its online business.
For more than 150 years, Bloomingdale’s has represented the very best of New York City shopping. From introducing the latest fashion trends and showcasing world-renowned designers to creating unforgettable holiday window displays, Bloomingdale’s has become one of Manhattan’s most iconic department stores. Its remarkable history mirrors the evolution of New York itself, where innovation, style, and retail excellence have long gone hand in hand.
Photo: Coolcaesar at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
Is Bloomingdale’s Still Open in New York City?
Bloomingdale’s remains very much in business. The 59th Street flagship continues to operate at the location that has defined the company for generations. Bloomingdale’s also operates a full-line SoHo store at 504 Broadway and a Bloomingdale’s Outlet on the Upper West Side at 2085 Broadway.
The company’s national footprint has changed over time as individual stores have opened and closed, which is why older articles often give store counts that are no longer accurate. Macy’s, Inc.’s most recently reported store count lists 32 Bloomingdale’s department store, furniture, and related locations, four smaller Bloomie’s locations, and 25 Bloomingdale’s Outlet locations.
Bloomingdale’s also continues to invest in its flagship and merchandise strategy. In March 2026, parent company Macy’s, Inc. reported that Bloomingdale’s had achieved its best holiday performance on record during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.
When Was Bloomingdale’s Founded?
Bloomingdale’s history begins with the Bloomingdale family’s nineteenth-century retail business and the hoop skirt, one of the great fashion crazes of the era. Bloomingdale’s own history says the hoop skirt was the first item Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale carried in their Ladies’ Notions Shop.
Some historical accounts trace the family’s retail operation back to 1861. However, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, Inc. both mark 1872 as the formal beginning of Bloomingdale Brothers, when Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale opened the Great East Side Bazaar at 938 Third Avenue near East 56th Street.
The first day’s sales totaled only $3.68.
At a time when many stores specialized in one category, the Bloomingdale brothers sold a broader assortment of fashions and goods under one roof. Corsets, skirts, men’s garments, imported European fashions, and other merchandise helped transform the business into an early version of the modern department store.
The Move to 59th Street
Bloomingdale’s continued growing as Manhattan expanded northward. In 1886, the company moved to 59th Street and Third Avenue, the location that became its famous flagship.
The store expanded steadily over the following decades. By the 1920s, Bloomingdale’s occupied the entire city block bounded by Third Avenue, Lexington Avenue, 59th Street, and 60th Street.
That expansion turned Bloomingdale’s into more than a neighborhood store. The flagship became a destination for New Yorkers and visitors who came not only to buy clothing and household goods but also to see what was new.
Bloomingdale’s Becomes a Fashion Destination
Bloomingdale’s is synonymous with fashion. People have flocked to its stores for generations to find the latest styles, and some of the world’s best-known designers were introduced to broad American audiences through Bloomingdale’s.
The company also looked beyond the United States for merchandise. European fashions became an important part of the store’s identity, and Bloomingdale’s developed overseas buying operations that helped bring international styles to New York shoppers.
By the twentieth century, the company increasingly treated retail as entertainment. Window displays, fashion presentations, special events, designer boutiques, and elaborate promotions helped turn a shopping trip into an experience.
Retail as Theater
Bloomingdale’s became especially famous for what the company later described as “retail as theater.” During the 1930s, the flagship’s windows drew crowds with elaborate fashion and merchandise displays.
In 1947, Bloomingdale’s introduced its famous Model Rooms, immersive home-furnishing displays developed by interior designer Barbara D’Arcy. Rather than displaying furniture as isolated pieces, the Model Rooms presented complete environments that customers could walk through and imagine in their own homes.
In 1959, Bloomingdale’s launched its first major international import fair, “Casa Bella,” celebrating Italy through fashion, home goods, food, art, and music. Later import fairs featured other countries and became another example of Bloomingdale’s turning merchandising into spectacle.
Beginning in the 1960s, Bloomingdale’s also became known for promoting emerging designers and creating shop-in-shop boutiques that gave individual fashion labels a distinct identity inside the larger department store.
The Big Brown Bag
Bloomingdale’s famous Big Brown Bag was introduced in 1973. The oversized kraft-paper shopping bag was designed by legendary graphic designer Massimo Vignelli after the linen department requested a bag large enough to hold bulky purchases such as pillows and blankets.
The simple design became an immediate hit. The Little Brown Bag followed in 1974, with the Medium Brown Bag introduced later.
The Big Brown Bag became much more than packaging. It became a New York fashion symbol in its own right. People recognized the bag before they even saw the Bloomingdale’s name, and the design eventually appeared on handbags, cosmetic cases, accessories, souvenirs, and special-edition merchandise.
Bloomingdale’s had already been commissioning artists to create collectible shopping-bag designs beginning in the 1960s. The Big Brown Bag brought that tradition into an even more recognizable form.
Bloomingdale’s in the 1970s and 1980s
Bloomingdale’s achieved a new level of celebrity during the 1970s. Actors, musicians, designers, royalty, socialites, and other public figures shopped at the flagship, and the store appeared in movies, television programs, magazines, and New Yorker cartoons.
The store’s image was fashionable without feeling like a private club. That balance helped Bloomingdale’s become a destination for people who wanted to see what New York style looked like at that particular moment.
The company also expanded beyond New York, opening stores in other major metropolitan markets. Over the following decades, Bloomingdale’s developed a national presence while the 59th Street store remained the flagship and symbolic center of the brand.
Bloomingdale’s Opens in SoHo
Bloomingdale’s opened its second Manhattan full-line store in SoHo in 2004. The store occupies a historic cast-iron building at 504 Broadway between Spring and Broome Streets.
The SoHo location was designed for a somewhat different customer than the massive uptown flagship, with a downtown setting and a smaller footprint. It remains open today.
Who Owns Bloomingdale’s?
Bloomingdale’s joined Federated Department Stores in 1930. Federated later acquired Macy’s in 1994 and gradually reorganized much of its department-store business around the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s names.
Federated Department Stores officially changed its corporate name to Macy’s, Inc. in 2007.
Today Bloomingdale’s remains one of Macy’s, Inc.’s principal retail nameplates alongside Macy’s and Bluemercury. Although Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s share a corporate parent, Bloomingdale’s continues to operate as a separate brand with its own merchandise identity and higher-end positioning.
Bloomingdale’s Holiday Windows
Of course, one cannot write a story about the history of Bloomingdale’s without mentioning its legendary holiday windows. Along with Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s has made elaborate seasonal displays part of the New York Christmas experience.
For New Yorkers and visitors, walking past the decorated department-store windows during the holiday season has become a tradition that reaches back generations. Bloomingdale’s has used those windows to combine fashion, art, humor, animation, lighting, and spectacle in ways that turn the sidewalk itself into part of the store.
Photo: sabeen19, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bloomingdale’s and New York Culture
Bloomingdale’s has always been associated with style, design, and New York culture. Its stores have introduced exclusive collections, hosted major fashion events, promoted designers, and brought international merchandise to American shoppers.
Some of the company’s earlier fashion and design material has even entered museum collections. Readers interested in New York’s art institutions can also explore our history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale did not invent the department store. What they did remarkably well was recognize how the format could evolve. They combined variety, fashion, international buying, advertising, display, architecture, events, and eventually celebrity culture into a retail identity that felt distinctly New York.
That is why Bloomingdale’s remains significant even after so many legendary department stores have disappeared. The retail world around it has changed dramatically, but the flagship at 59th Street continues to operate on the same block that Bloomingdale’s moved to in the nineteenth century.
Photo: Ed Parsons, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
More New York Department Store History
If you enjoyed learning about the history of Bloomingdale’s, continue exploring New York City’s legendary department stores with our features on Macy’s, Gimbels, Woolworth’s, Abraham & Straus, B. Altman & Co., and Alexander’s Department Store. Each of these beloved retailers helped define New York City’s shopping culture in its own way, from elegant flagship stores and famous holiday window displays to neighborhood traditions and generations of loyal customers who made department store shopping a memorable part of city life.
Sources
Bloomingdale’s, A Look Back at Our History
Macy’s, Inc., Current Store Count
Bloomingdale’s History at a Glance
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1872 | Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale formally open Bloomingdale Brothers’ Great East Side Bazaar at 938 Third Avenue |
| 1886 | Bloomingdale’s moves to 59th Street and Third Avenue |
| 1920s | The flagship expands to occupy the entire block between Third and Lexington avenues |
| 1930 | Bloomingdale’s joins Federated Department Stores |
| 1947 | The store introduces its influential Model Rooms |
| 1959 | The first major international import fair, “Casa Bella,” celebrates Italy |
| 1961 | Bloomingdale’s begins a celebrated era of artist-designed shopping bags |
| 1973 | Massimo Vignelli’s Big Brown Bag makes its debut |
| 2004 | Bloomingdale’s opens its SoHo store at 504 Broadway |
| 2007 | Parent company Federated Department Stores changes its name to Macy’s, Inc. |
| 2026 | Bloomingdale’s remains open in New York City with its 59th Street flagship, SoHo store, and Upper West Side outlet |
Updated August 8, 2026.
History of Bloomingdale’s in New York City: Is It Still Open and Who Owns It? article published on ClassicNewYorkHistory.com © 2026
