Bloomingdale's Continues Its Retail-Is-Theater Tradition With The Rotating Popup Carousel Concept – Forbes

Back in the early 60s, long before anyone else, the late-great Marvin Traub saw the experiential future of the store. He concepted the idea of retail as theater at the Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship. “We developed the idea that a store should be entertainment, not just a place to buy a suit and a shirt or a tie,” Traub wrote in his biography.

It made Bloomingdale’s a must-see and must-visit-often destination for New Yorkers, as well as visitors from around the world, including Queen Elizabeth who shopped there in 1976.

Fast forward to today, and Bloomingdale’s continues its retail-is-theater tradition. Over the past year, Bloomingdale’s flagship store has undergone a top-to-bottom renovation, the largest makeover in its history. It also added a theatrically-inspired rotating popup shop called Carousel on its first floor to bring new excitement and energy to the store every two months.

The latest Carousel iteration, “Good for the Globe,” features over 800 products from the sublime, like a John Hardy 18-karat diamond pendant for $17,500, to the mundane, Windex Vinegar non-toxic window cleaner for $4.49.

The new collection is curated by Quincy Davis, pro-surfer and Surfrider Foundation ambassador, with an eye toward eco-chic products, “all designed to help you reduce, reuse and recycle in style,” the website describes.

The Good for the Globe show can be experienced at the 59th flagship store, as well as three other Bloomingdale’s across the country (Century City, San Francisco and Soho) and on the website. In November Carousel shops will be added to the Norwalk, CT and Valley Fair, CA stores.

I asked Frank Berman, Bloomingdale’s EVP and chief marketing officer, to take me behind the scenes of the current Carousel production and share how the broader Carousel concept is reinvigorating the Bloomingdale’s shopping experience.

As the company’s CMO, Berman ultimately answers to the Bloomingdale’s customer. “I am responsible for how we communicate, inspire and evolve for the next generation of customers. Our point of differentiation as a brand is that we are mix-masters, combining high and low, into a place where style comes together,” he shares.

Setting the stage

At the 59th Street store Carousel is front-and-center on the first floor, with a separate entrance from 60th Street, where dedicated display windows are used to build curiosity and invite passersby in.

But rather than product-as-hero displays, the Carousel installations and windows to support them are themed around culturally-significant trends.

“We created the Carousel rotating popup shops based on relevant cultural themes to address what is important and timely in our customers lives.” The latest two-month show coincides with Earth Day, April 22, with the goal to add to people’s conversations around sustainability.

To elevate those conversations beyond the four walls of the store, Bloomingdale’s works with an outside curator who gives the show an authentic voice. This time it is Quincy Davis.

“Partnering with Bloomingdale’s for the Good for the Globe shop is very special to me because I’ve always had a connection to the store and as a pro-surfer who spends so much time in the ocean, sustainability is very close to my heart,” she said in a statement. “I also really enjoyed the process of researching brands and companies to curate a well-rounded collection of products that truly are good for the globe.”

Given the Carousel’s broader cultural mission, the guest curator and Bloomingdale’s team seek out products that are both endemic to Bloomie’s, including fashion, home and accessories, but also non-endemic products that are interesting and unique. “We look for special items you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find at Bloomingdale’s,” Berman adds.

That opens the door for unexpected brand partnerships, like the current one with Windex. “We look to different partnerships that create an interesting juxtaposition with an upscale fashion brand like Bloomingdale’s. You wouldn’t expect us to partner with a consumer packaged goods brand, but it gives us great animation, inspiration and content around their eco-friendly products and passion for the environment,” he shares.

Windex’s mission in the partnership is to #HelpSeasSparkle by telling stories around the threats to the ocean’s health through plastic waste. It is also using this installation to introduce its new non-toxic vinegar version in a bottle made with 100% recycled ocean plastic.

In looking deeper, however, Windex is the perfect brand partner, as it makes use of the Carousel’s floor-to-ceiling video screens to tell its sustainability story, not to mention the outside display windows featuring an aquarium filled with sea life made completely out of recycled plastic. A lot of Windex window cleaner is necessary to keep all that glass sparkling.

It takes only three days for Bloomingdale’s team to tear down one Carousel installation and set up the new one, but months even years of planning.

“It is a big effort to pull off basically a show every two months where you are changing the theme, changing the curator, changing the event schedule, changing the back drops and training the docent-sellers on the floor,” he says and adds, “imagine pulling all that off then bringing in new product from 70-to-80 vendors.” The Carousel team is now working on installations for 2020.

Training the docent-selling team is an intensive process. Each has been carefully selected for their high-energy levels and ability to engage guests with conversation around the overall theme of the Carousel installation, as well as sharing information about each product and why the curator felt it was important to include.

Carousel is an ultimate Bloomingdale’s experience

In closing our conversation, I asked Berman how he sees Carousel in the context of other popup shops that competitors are creating, including sister-brand Macy’s Story popups which are now being added to 39 stores throughout the country.

“I love Story and what Rachel [Shechtman] is doing with Macy’s. But our twist is much more Bloomingdale’s with a truly special and unique point of view and merchandise mix from our internal matrix of fashion brands and then hunting out new partners and vendors that offer interesting juxtapositions,” he says.

Bloomingdale’s New York-centric, Broadway-inspired “retail-is-theater” DNA is programmed into every Carousel installation , allowing guests in San Francisco and Los Angeles to experience a bit of NYC glamour without getting on a plane.

“We have a magnificent flagship store in the greatest city in the world,” Berman concludes. “Bloomingdale’s is the heart of New York and has been ingrained in the pop culture of NYC for generations. We remain focused on that.”