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Bloomingdale's is an American chain of luxury department stores owned by Macy's, Inc. Founded in 1861, its primary competitors are Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus.〔http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/competition.BLOOMINGDALES_INC.28b4701ee70ace17.html〕 Its best known for its large selection of designer brands and pricey merchandise. ==19th century== Brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale founded Bloomingdale's in 1861, when they began selling hoop skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The pair were sons of Benjamin Bloomingdale, a Bavarian-born salesman who had lived in North Carolina and Kansas, and settled in New York City. In 1872, the Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue, New York City. As the hoop skirt's popularity was declining, the brothers closed their East Side Bazaar in 1872, in a small row house on Third Avenue and 56th Street, selling a variety of garments such as ladies' skirts, corsets, "gent's furnishings", and European fashions. At the time the East Side was a working class neighborhood with shanty towns, garbage dumps, and stockyards. Most of their customers and competitors were in the Upper West Side, and at that time most "respectable" stores only specialized in one trade. Within a few years after opening the store, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened, the new St. Patrick's Cathedral was dedicated near the store after moving from its downtown location, Central Park was completed, and the upper portion of the New York City Subway-operated IRT Lexington Avenue Line began construction. These additions brought to the East Side wealthy customers, who built brownstones that surrounded the new park. The store moved in 1886 to its current location on 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. It was designed with large plate glass display windows and large merchandising areas. Instead of the common practice of cluttering the display windows with an assortment of the goods they sold, the store featured in each window a couple of products as props on a theatrical ''mise-en-scène''. Many of these products were European imports. By the start of the 20th century, Bloomingdale's growth had greatly increased, facilitated by its convenient location at a hub of New York City's horse-drawn trolley system. Offerings at the time included ladies' stockings at 10¢ a pair (equivalent to $ in ), $10 men's wool suits (equivalent to $ in ), and $149 upright pianos (equivalent to $ in ). In 1902, the advertising slogan "All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdale's" capitalized on the store's location, and the company commissioned artist Richard F. Outcault to create a series of paintings around this theme. The slogan appeared on billboards and on 5,000 free beach umbrellas which were offered to street vendors and delivery cart drivers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bloomingdale's」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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