To think it all started with a 19th century fad - the hoop skirt. That Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale's first item carried in Ladies' Notions Shop in New York's Lower East Side. In the late 1800's, most fashion retailers specialized in just one type of garment. Not the brothers Bloomingdale - their East Side Bazaar, opened in 1872, sold a wide variety of European fashions. It was the beginning of what would become a "Department Store".