Bloomingdale's flagship store

1000 3rd Avenue | also 743 Lexington Avenue | Upper East Side | built 1868

Open on the map7 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1886

    Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale open their new store between Third and Lexington avenues

    The Bloomingdale brothers, Joseph and Lyman, open their new department store on the block bounded by Third and Lexington avenues and 59th and 60th streets in 1886. Herman J. Schwarzmann and Albert Buchman designed it as the third relocation of the brothers' Great East Side Bazaar. Buchman & Deisler later add a Renaissance-style annex and a wing running to 59th Street in 1893.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1902

    Samuel Bloomingdale turns the trolley hub at the store into the slogan 'All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdale's'

    Samuel J. Bloomingdale, son of Lyman, builds an advertising campaign in 1902 on the store's position at a hub of the city's horse-drawn trolley lines. Its slogan promises that all cars transfer to Bloomingdale's. The campaign is the largest of its era, running on billboards and on more than 5,000 beach umbrellas handed out free to street vendors and delivery cart drivers.

    Source: fundinguniverse.com

  3. 1918

    The store shifts its main entrance to Lexington Avenue and lends a floor to the Red Cross

    After the subway opens, Bloomingdale's moves its primary entrance to the Lexington Avenue side in 1918 to draw shoppers coming from the nearby 59th Street stop. With the United States in World War I, Samuel Bloomingdale lets the American Red Cross use a whole floor of the store for free until the war ends. By 1927 the company controls the entire block.

    “…the store's primary entrance was shifted to its Lexington Avenue side in 1918 ... Samuel Bloomingdale gave the American Red Cross free use of an entire floor there until the war ended.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1930

    Starrett & Van Vleck fill out the block and give the store its Art Deco Lexington Avenue front

    Starrett & Van Vleck expand Bloomingdale's to occupy the entire city block in 1930, adding the signature Art Deco facade along Lexington Avenue. In the 1980s the architect William J. Conklin calls the original construction and later additions a complete mess architecturally, yet Federated Department Stores does not go ahead with his plans to restore the exterior.

    “Starrett & Van Vleck expanded the store to occupy the entire city block with the 1930 expansion, which also added the signature Art Deco facade along Lexington Avenue.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1971

    'The Cave,' a model room wrapped in white polyurethane, typifies the store's retail theater

    By the time Bloomingdale's reaches its 100th anniversary in 1972, its in-store displays are so elaborate that retail analysts coin the phrase retailing as theater. Model rooms grow showier still, and a 1971 display called The Cave rises as a multi-level structure wrapped entirely in white polyurethane. By 1972 the flagship's yearly sales are estimated at $100 million.

    Source: fundinguniverse.com

  6. 1972

    Marvin Traub calls Saturdays at the store 'the biggest party in town' on its 100th anniversary

    On the store's 100th anniversary in 1972, president Marvin Traub tells the New York Times that Saturdays at Bloomingdale's are the biggest party in town. He says it is a place where young people make dates for the night, and that more people have started calling it Bloomie's. A survey of the time finds over 60 percent of customers live and work in nearby luxury towers.

    Source: fundinguniverse.com

  7. 1976

    Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip spend an afternoon shopping at Bloomingdale's

    On her second visit to New York, Queen Elizabeth spends an afternoon at Bloomingdale's with Prince Philip. Traffic on Lexington Avenue is reversed so she can step out of her car on the right side. She walks floor to floor, sees a fashion show and meets designers including Calvin Klein, while the Prince is shown best sellers such as a talking calculator and a pet rock.

    Source: Untapped New York

Further reading

Nearby

All 93 buildings with stories in Upper East Side