The Gilded Age: What Happened To Bloomingdale’s? | Screen Rant
Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 4 - "A Long Ladder"
Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) and Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) shop at Bloomingdale's in The Gilded Age episode 4 and the world-famous department store's rise is tied to The Gilded Age's 19th-century timeframe. Julian Fellowes' prestige historical drama centers on the conflict between the elite high society of Old New York and the New Money millionaires like George Russell (Morgan Spector). Meanwhile, characters who are new to the city like Marian and her suitor, Thomas Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel), offer the viewer the chance to explore The Gilded Age's New York City circa 1882 through their eyes and Bloomingdale's is another landmark they visit.
At the start of The Gilded Age episode 4, Marian and Peggy discuss Miss Scott's problems starting her writing career before they arrive at the Bloomingdale Brothers' department store. Dazzled by the retail establishment, which Marian says is unlike anything found in her home state of Pennsylvania, Miss Brook decides to enter despite Peggy asking her not to. Miss Scott's fears turn out to be well-founded. The employees at Bloomingdale's are eager to serve Marian, a white woman of Old New York pedigree, but they regard Peggy with obvious suspicion and hostility because she's African-American until she leaves the store. Sadly, The Gilded Age's racism that greets Peggy at Bloomingdale's was typical of how Black people were treated because of segregation, despite the fact that slavery was ended at the end of the Civil War.
Because The Gilded Age is set in 1882, the Bloomingdale's that Marian and Peggy visited was located at 3rd Avenue and 56th Street, and it was known as the Bloomingdale Brothers' Great East Side Bazaar. The company was created by Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale, who opened a ladies' garment store in the Lower East Side in 1861. The first product that they carried was the hoop skirt, which was the latest fashion fad. Bloomingdale's early success was tied to the wealth and excess of The Gilded Age. In the mid-19th century, most fashion retailers carried only one kind of garment, but Bloomingdale's expanded its inventory to include high-end clothing for men and women, which gave birth to the modern-day "department store." Bloomingdale's soon expanded to the 59th Street location that Mariana and Peggy shopped at in The Gilded Age.
As impressed as Marian was by Bloomingdale's Great East Side Bazaar, she will be even more amazed if The Gilded Age continues into 1886. That's the year when Bloomingdale's moved to its historic 59th Street and Lexington Avenue location, where Bloomingdale's remains today. The 59th Street Bloomingdale's huge windows were theatrically decorated to show off the store's merchandise. As Bloomingdale's on 59th Street kept expanding, the store would take up the entire city block by the 1920s. Similar to the Statue of Liberty's hand in Madison Square, the Bloomingdale's seen in The Gilded Age is a New York City landmark that would not be fully realized until the end of the 1880s.
Bloomingdale's success would continue into the 20th century and it would become one of the most famous department stores in the world, although the fortunes of Bloomingdale's have suffered a downturn thanks to online stores like Amazon in the 21st century. In The Gilded Age, Marian and Peggy also ran into Mrs. Chamberlain (Jeanne Tripplehorn) at Bloomingdale's. Even though Mrs. Chamberlain is shunned from New York high society because of her past by Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) and the Four Hundred, the employees of Bloomingdale's are still happy to cater to a woman of her wealth and means, which is the opposite of how they treated Peggy. Still, Bloomingdale's is one of the signature stores of The Gilded Age's era and the department store's rise will continue for decades to come.
The Gilded Age airs Mondays at 9pm on HBO and streams on HBO Max.