Bloomingdale’s Logo PNG
Bloomingdale’s logo is sophisticated. It has to do with the brand’s field of activity, a chain of luxury department stores selling everything from jewelry to furniture. Thin lines, elegant glyphs, and smooth strokes turn the logo into a symbol of lightness. And it’s not just a hint of elegance; it’s proof that shopping in such boutiques is easy.
In 1861, during the American Civil War, Bavarian-born Benjamin Bloomingdale and his son Lyman opened Bloomingdale’s Hoopskirt and Ladies’ Notion Shop in lower Manhattan. The small family store focused on hoop skirts, then one of the period’s main fashion items.
On April 17, 1872, Lyman and his brother Joseph opened Bloomingdale’s Great East Side Bazaar at Third Avenue and 56th Street. First-day sales were $3.68. The location was far north of the main shopping streets, in a working district. Yet the brothers built a broader retail format, selling skirts, corsets, men’s clothing, and imported European goods under one roof. They also opened a Paris buying office to bring French styles to New York.
In 1880, the family bought a 5-story building at 56th Street and Third Avenue, turning the business into a full department store. In 1886, the flagship moved to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, where it still operates. Bloomingdale’s became known for early retail innovations, including an elevator called the “sky carriage,” and Lyman later funded Jesse Reno’s inclined lift, an early form of the escalator.
After Lyman died in 1905, Samuel and Hiram Bloomingdale took over. The store joined Federated Department Stores in 1930 and survived the Depression. Later milestones included the Art Deco expansion of 1931, the New Rochelle suburban store in 1947, Halston and Polo Ralph Lauren boutiques in the 1960s and 1970s, the Big Brown Bag in 1972, Macy’s entering the same corporate group in 1994, the Macy’s Inc. name in 2007, and the Dubai opening in 2010.
Meaning and History
A lot of time has passed since the opening of the first store with a full range of goods. The network was either an independent commercial unit or a subsidiary during this period, but it has invariably maintained its own identity. Her “face” is simple, rooted in dynastic rather than historical facts or stages of development. Therefore, the leaders have always paid tribute to the creators of this commercial structure, particularly through logos dedicated to them.
Modern Bloomingdale’s is a very large retailer, but in 2020, Macy’s, Inc. (owner) announced the closure of the oldest department store in Florida. In the same spring, the work of all offices was temporarily stopped to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The management assumed that this break would last about six weeks, but they were mistaken. As a result, it launched several outlets with anti-COVID measures to protect buyers. Unable to withstand such a situation, the trading network was reduced by one more department store – this time in the state of California.
The remaining stores use the old sign, which appeared in 1972. And before that, they had two more emblems, but they were almost identical to the modern one: the same design and the same concept. The difference between them is only in the style used to write the trading network’s name. In one case, it imitates handwriting; in another, it represents a set of classic printed letters; in the third, it is based on the graphic principle of glyph similarity.
What is Bloomingdale’s?
Bloomingdale’s is an American retail store located throughout the United States. The network includes 55 department stores with a full and partial range of goods. They first appeared in 1861 in New York, where their head center and administrative office are still located. The founders of a large-scale trading structure were the Bloomingdale brothers: Lyman G. and Joseph B. launched the business simultaneously, and Emanuel Watson joined them later. The parent company of this commercial network is Macy’s Inc.
1861 – 1961
Bloomingdale’s debut logo was used for a full hundred years. It was an elegant inscription composed of unusually shaped uppercase block letters. Although they were on the same line, they were uneven, clearly evident in the “G” and “S.” The effect of this unevenness resulted from the combination of too-thin strokes and wide stripes. But the serifs are distinct, sharp, and straight. “B,” standing first, is much larger than the rest of the characters. It is as if drawn in an outline with one stroke, an inextricable line, in which there are three loops and two half-arcs. Smooth curves effectively contrast with needle serifs.
1961 – 1972
The second logo’s lifespan was very short: it lasted just over ten years. The emblem of the time contained Bloomingdale’s original signature, with the addition of an apostrophe and an “s” at the end, indicating that it was not one person but several. The idea of a family business was conveyed in a white handwritten nameplate. She was the poster. The word was completely coherent: all the characters had different transitions from one letter to the next, forming a single whole.
1972 – today
In 1972, Bloomingdale’s launched a visual identity brand still in use today. It is elegant and unusual. The letters in it look like geometric glyphs in thin frames. Straight lines are harmoniously combined with rounded elements resembling rings. Among them are “b”, “o”, “g”, “d”, and “a”. To achieve this effect, the designers have converted the inscription to lowercase, consisting only of lowercase letters, with the first two “o”s overlapping, like tightly linked rings. The color scheme remains the same: black characters on a white background.
Font and Colors
The trading company Bloomingdale’s uses text logos; it does not use any graphic characters. Their evolution was steady, with redesigns rare: since 1861, only three versions of the logo have been presented. The first and third are printed, and the second is handwritten.
For the debut logo, the developers chose an antiqua font with sharp serifs at the ends of letters, featuring both thin and wide lines. The second time, a typeface imitating a handwritten style was used. The inscription in the third emblem is made by Quinfo ExtraLight by Alvaro Thomaz. The corporate palette is standard, with black letters on a white background.