Bloomingdale’s to unveil renovation at Roosevelt Field
The renovations at Bloomingdale's at Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, seen here on Aug. 30, 2017, include new lighting, flooring and signs. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Bloomingdale’s has completed a renovation of the upper level of its Roosevelt Field mall store to attract millennial shoppers with a new beauty shop showcasing niche brands and select clothing brands.
The upscale retailer said it made a “significant investment” in the 313,000-square-foot store to create a more seamless shopping experience, particularly for millennial customers. The renovation included new flooring and wall treatments as well as neon lighting and spinning signs. The company declined to disclose how much it spent on renovations.
The store at Roosevelt Field in Garden City was one of five Bloomingdale’s locations chosen to house a new 400-square-foot makeup and skin care boutique called Glowhaus. Bloomingdale’s is also testing the concept in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, and in San Francisco and two other California locations.
The bright red and floral motif Glowhaus features about 30 new brands, all under $100. In some cases the brands are trending on social media, are not sold at other conventional department stores or are independent labels. Some novelty beauty brands include the Vamp Stamp, a tool used to create a winged eyeliner look, as well as Kaprielle, LIT Cosmetics, Sigma Beauty and Winky Lux. Other brands include CoverFX, Lash Star Beauty, NudeStix, the BrowGal, Rouge Bunny Rouge, GlamGlow and Mario Badescu.
The Glowhaus shop is surrounded by racks of millennial-targeted clothing brands and denim jeans to encourage a “cross-shopping” experience, officials said.
“We wanted to create . . . an environment that appeals to a younger customer or a more contemporary fashion-oriented customer,” said Richard A. Ranges, vice president and general manager of Bloomingdale’s in Roosevelt Field.
To promote Glowhaus and the new floor layout, Bloomingdale’s will host an unveiling event on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. with beauty “influencer” Melly Sanchez, 23, of Roosevelt, whose Instagram account handle is @thefashionfreakk. She has more than 973,000 followers on the social media platform. She also has more than 320,000 subscribers on YouTube, where she posts makeup tutorial videos. The store will also present a fashion show from 2 to 4 p.m.
Bloomingdale’s plans to use social media influencers “to bring new customers into the store, to bring a level of fun and activity into the store that you are not going to experience in other places,” Ranges said. “Then our sales associates can engage and make them part of the Bloomingdale’s customer base.”
Social media influencers use their accounts to focus on a niche hobby or lifestyle, and their endorsements tend to carry more weight among their followers than a celebrity influencer who appeals to everyone, anywhere, said Jackie DiBella, public relations and influencer marketing manager at EGC Group, a Melville marketing and digital services firm.
“It is great that they stayed away from celebrities and went with someone who is local,” DiBella said. “It is such a big brand to realize that having this organic relationship is super important. They are realizing that people are trusting real people, not just brands. It adds a human element. It is like getting a recommendation from friends and family.”
Bloomingdale’s, owned by Macy’s Inc., was founded in 1872 and currently operates 38 Bloomingdale’s stores and 17 outlet stores, including four stores on Long Island.
The Roosevelt Field renovation comes at a time when most major brick-and-mortar chains are not pouring money into stores. Instead, many are closing stores as they face falling sales, declining mall traffic and growing competition from online rivals such as Amazon.
“My associates provide a customer experience that you can’t get online,” Ranges said. “And that’s not to compete with online. Businesses today are synergistic. It is an omni environment, but the difference in the stores is the experiential edge.”
