The Wall Street Journal weighs in today on how department stores are working to serve the fashion needs of Boomer women. The focus is on Bloomingdale’s, which is going after women age 35 to 50 with Quotations, an in-store casual clothing department for customers Bloomie’s calls “yummy mommies.” Retailers see value in tapping the big market of affluent Boomer women, but chains like Gap’s Forth & Towne have stumbed an overt age focus. The Journal notes that department stores hope to avoid that pitfall by mixing it up with product aimed at younger customers:

The idea is that by pitching to boomers as well as younger women, Quotation will have a hip vibe that will appeal to a broad cross section. Each department is positioned next to contemporary labels like Juicy Couture, which are favored by women in their 20s, and has a diverse range of separates.

As noted here, Ann Taylor will launch a standalone chain targeting Boomer women next Fall.

The Journal package includes an interesting video tour of Bloomingdale’s Quotations, featuring fashion reporter Teri Agins.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 8:14 am and is filed under Marketing, Retailing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.