Bloomingdales’ ubiquitous Big Brown Bag is 50 years old, and the retailer is throwing a beauty bash to celebrate.
On Oct. 7, Bloomingdales will host its first Big Brown Beauty Bazaar in all U.S. doors from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., during which guests can partake in brand activations such as personalized skin consultations at the Kiehl’s or Augustinus Bader counters, complimentary ice lift treatments with Clarins, and makeup services and tutorials by Dior Beauty and Lancôme.
“We had a lot of fun thinking about what are the essentials that our customer needs in her Big Brown Beauty Bag, and we look forward to sharing [those] with her as we get closer to the date,” said Elizabeth Miller, vice president of beauty at Bloomingdales, adding roughly 70 percent of beauty brands carried by the department store will participate in the event.
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While the activations are free, customers who spend $150 or more will receive a complimentary tote bag embellished with a commemorative “50,” which can be embroidered for free at Bloomingdales’ 59th St. outpost in New York. Guests at that location will also be able to enjoy complimentary coffee, opportunities to win beauty baskets and services and a live DJ during the event.
“Beauty is such an important business for us, and this whole anniversary of the brown bag has been a special, fun occasion for us, following [Bloomingdale’s] 150th anniversary last year,” said Kevin Harter, vice president of integrated marketing at Bloomingdale’s. “Big Brown Beauty Bazaar is the perfect ending to this campaign these last few weeks.”
The bazaar will occur on the last day of Bloomingdale’s annual Makeup Date event, which has been running for more than 10 years and consists of in-store and on-screen artistry events. This year, artists from Dior Beauty, YSL Beauty, La Mer, Estée Lauder and other brands will offer tutorials.
“Post-pandemic, what we’re seeing even more is just how much our customer wants to come into the store and connect with their beauty advisor — the importance of relationships between the beauty advisors that we have in store and the clients is what brings people to shop beauty at Bloomingdale’s,” Miller said.
