Business Books -- Ex-Chief Writes About Minding The Store At Bloomingdale's

New York - After more than 40 years, Marvin Traub is still minding the store. Not just any store, but Bloomingdale's, the best-known and glitziest division of Federated Department Stores Inc.

During his 41-year tenure at Bloomingdale's, which ended in November 1991, the last 13 as chairman, Traub transformed it from a low-cost retailer to a world-renowned store that counts Queen Elizabeth as one of its customers.

Traub, 68, chronicles Bloomingdale's conversion in his recently published 403-page book, "Like No Other Store . . ." and tells about the retailer's fall into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 1990. Written with Tom Teicholz, the book intertwines Traub's own story with that of Bloomingdale's.

"Marvin was a merchant prince of the old school," said Kurt Barnard, retail consultant and publisher of Retail Marketing Report. "He made Bloomingdale's into a mecca for the fashionable people in New York and around the world."

IN HIS BLOOD

Traub's parents wanted him to become a doctor, but, he wrote, "selling was in my blood." Born in the Bronx in April 1925, Traub was always surrounded by merchants. His father, Sam, was an executive with the lingerie maker Lily of France, and his mother, Bea, was in charge of personal shopping at Bonwit Teller.

From his parents he learned to be a clothes horse. His father wore custom-ordered shirts from Sulka or Charvet in Paris and sported a fresh flower in his buttonhole everyday. His mother's dresses were mostly in black, complemented by simple jewelry.

Traub describes his style as conservative. He said he prefers American-style designers - his favorite is Ralph Lauren - rather than Italian designers such as Giorgio Armani.

In fact, Traub considers creating some U.S. designers into celebrities and household names as one of his great accomplishments while at Bloomingdale's.

"When Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan or Estee Lauder comes in the store, you could get a turnout like for a rock star," he said. "That was all part of repositioning Bloomingdale's."

END OF AN ERA

Bloomingdale's bankruptcy marked an end of an era and the end of Traub's tenure at the store he helped create. Shortly after Allen Questrom became Federated's chairman in the spring of 1991, he asked Traub to step down. Questrom, who was committed to making Federated a more cost-efficient retailer, wanted to put his own executives in place.

"Marvin had a difficult time adjusting to the '90s," said Michael Exstein, an analyst at Kidder, Peabody & Co. "It was a different time, and a different environment than the '80s, when lavishness and luxury were in."

Indeed, Traub wrote that he didn't fit into the more financially oriented culture Questrom wanted to create at Federated.

FEDERATED'S STRATEGY

Describing Questrom's approach in his book, Traub wrote he "runs cold, rather than hot." Traub said that wasn't meant as a criticism of Questrom's management style, but he "doesn't feel a passion as I did for Bloomingdale's . . . Allen is a contemporary manager of today, (and that) could be a plus."

Federated, which merged with Allied Department Stores during the bankruptcy proceedings, formed a buying team to handle purchasing for all the different divisions, consolidated back-office operations and merged several divisions to cut costs.

Instead of managing the stores from the divisional level, Federated now coordinates most of its retail functions from its corporate headquarters in Cincinnati.

"This is a major change in retailing and at Federated," Traub said. "It makes the company more cost-effective."

Traub said Bloomingdale's suffered during the three years under Campeau Corp.'s control. Campeau beat out Macy's in a bidding war and bought Federated for $8.8 billion. The debt-laden company didn't give Federated and Allied, a previous Campeau prize, enough money to spruce up their stores or open new ones.

Some of Campeau's steps benefited Federated, Traub said. To pay down debt, Campeau sold several non-department-store divisions.

When Federated filed under Chapter 11 in 1990, Questrom was recruited.

Bloomingdale's joined Federated in early 1930. At that time, Federated owned Abraham & Straus, Filene's of Boston and F. & R. Lazarus of Columbus, Ohio. Later, Federated bought several other regional department-store chains.

Today, Federated operates 218 department stores in 26 states, including The Bon Marche, Abraham & Straus, Bloomingdale's, Burdines, Goldsmith's, Jordan Marsh, Lazarus, Rich's and Stern's.

ACCENTUATES THE POSITIVE

Traub adamantly disagrees with his marketing professor at Harvard Business School who predicted in the late 1940s that department stores had reached "the maturity stage of their life cycle."

That doesn't mean Traub isn't dabbling with the retailing of the future. His consulting company, Traub Associates, introduced Saks Fifth Avenue to QVC Network Inc., the home-shopping channel based in West Chester, Pa. He's also working with department-store mainstay Jones Apparel Group Inc. to sell moderately priced clothing lines to J.C. Penney Co.

Traub's company also controls Conran's, a home-furnishings chain, and Block Industries, a men's tailored clothing manufacturer, and it's working with Elizabeth Taylor on her own signature jewelry collection and with Iman, the supermodel, on a cosmetics line.