Bloomingdale's, Burberry CEOs on Retail's Next Chapter

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Watch Bloomingdale's, Burberry CEOs on Retail's Next Chapter - Bloomberg on Dailymotion

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00:00Later this evening, Bloomingdale's will unveil its iconic holiday window displays at its flagship store here in New York City.

00:08It's highlighting a partnership with the British luxury brand Burberry.

00:11And I had a chance to catch up with the CEO of Bloomingdale's, Olivier Braun,

00:15ahead of the event to discuss his outlook on consumer spending and his efforts to bring back what he says is the golden age of Bloomingdale's.

00:24I think it's really about, you know, coming back to the origins.

00:28What we want to build right now with the team is actually rebuilding the next golden age of Bloomingdale's.

00:32We heard a lot about Bloomingdale's in the 70s, in the 80s, where it was really the place to go.

00:38And actually, you know, right now what we're trying to build is really recreating this destination, Bloomingdale's.

00:43And we're an icon, but we have to reinvent ourselves.

00:46It's also what Josh is doing with Burberry.

00:48This is what we're aiming to do at Bloomingdale's with one key focus is actually enhancing,

00:53bringing back customer experience, customer delight in our stores and really based on building relationship connections.

01:01It's right. This is what is making us different.

01:03I want to talk about this particular holiday season.

01:06I mean, times are a little bit challenging economically, and there's been a lot of talk about how much capacity the consumer has to spend.

01:12Are you feeling optimistic about what people will spend on this year?

01:16You know, I'm actually cautiously optimistic.

01:19The trend over the past few months has been amazing at Bloomingdale's, so we feel pretty strong.

01:24You know, we feel pretty strong about our customers' feedbacks, about our partner's feedback, about the current trend that we're experiencing.

01:30And we're building such a great event for this holiday season that we're convinced that it will resonate very, very well with the customer.

01:37You know, the customer now, three years ago, was all about luxury, high luxury, et cetera.

01:41We can feel that customer changes, behavior changes a little bit, a bit more to high-low, to contemporary, to luxury.

01:48And you know what? This is exactly what Bloomingdale's is about.

01:51So we feel very, very strong about this holiday.

01:53I haven't had a chance to see the windows for tonight.

01:56I assume you've had a sneak peek of what's behind there.

01:58What gets you excited for what we're going to see tonight?

02:01I think it's really, you know, what's making us exciting is actually, so the moment's going to be unique.

02:05So it's about music, joy, and, you know, being together.

02:08That it's really important.

02:09That this is really what we're celebrating, especially with what's happening in the world, you know, with some tension.

02:14We think that actually this happy together moment holiday that we're building is really meaningful for our customers.

02:19These windows are very, very special because we know we're an iconic building in New York

02:24and really want people to come, see what's happening at Bloomingdale's, in the windows, on the facade,

02:30and then check here what's happening where we are with the Burberry Carousel and all the newness that's happening in the store.

02:37We're starting the renovation.

02:38We started the renovation of this building a couple of months ago,

02:41and you can start to see coming to life right now on the shoe floor, on the luxury tour floor.

02:47We have much more to come, but you can start to feel what's going to be the future of Bloomingdale's in 59th Street.

02:53That was part of the conversation I had earlier today with Olivier Braun, the CEO of Bloomingdale's,

02:58and a long-term partnership that they've had with Burberry,

03:01which has kind of taken over the store for this big special holiday event that they're kicking off later tonight.

03:06The CEO of Burberry was walking through the store, Joshua Shulman.

03:09I had a chance to talk to him as well.

03:12He's only been at the helm for just a little bit of a time,

03:14an American leading a British company, trying to make a comeback itself.

03:17Here's part of that conversation.

03:20And I've heard your creative director, as well as your CFO,

03:23talking about this idea of kind of dialing up the Britishness,

03:25really kind of leaning into what I think most of us associate with Burberry,

03:29given the 170-year history, its royal warrant with the king and on all that.

03:35Does that resonate outside of the U.K.?

03:38Absolutely.

03:39You know, there are many luxury brands that have wonderful, beautiful heritages,

03:47and they celebrate their heritage, whether it's Italian or French.

03:52But Burberry is unique because we are the only luxury brand of scale

03:56that has a uniquely British heritage.

03:59And so to be able to bring that here against the backdrop of New York City,

04:05it's really a dream come true for myself as a longtime New Yorker and for all of our associates.

04:14And we should point that out.

04:14You are an American, right?

04:15I am an American, originally from Los Angeles, but spent more than 30 years right here in New York City.

04:22And they let you take over a British brand.

04:25I don't know that they let me take it over.

04:29It's a good point because Burberry belongs to all of us.

04:33This is a 170-year-old, almost 170-year-old institution founded by Thomas Burberry.

04:42And, you know, so there is an extraordinary history, and we believe there's an extraordinary future.

04:51And for 70 of those years, we've had a partnership with Bloomingdale's.

04:57And so this is an occasion where we can really celebrate that partnership, Burberry and Bloomingdale's.

05:05And we can also celebrate the magic of the holidays right here in New York City.

05:10Of course, later tonight, the day that we're taping this,

05:14there will be an unveiling of those windows and big performances.

05:16What are you looking forward to most tonight?

05:18I'm looking forward to looking out into the street and seeing the look on people's eyes

05:23and as they see the unveiling of the windows.

05:30I had a sneak peek the other day, and it was a little bit emotional, I have to say,

05:34seeing this uniquely British, uniquely Burberry, uniquely Bloomingdale's story come to life on the streets of New York City.

05:44And our thanks there to the CEOs of Bloomingdale's and Burberry.

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