Pardon Their Appearance:New York's Flagships Set ForOngoing Upgrades

Today's WWD has a rundown of all the coming renovations in our hometown department stores. You had better be prepared for shopping amongst the din and dust of construction, because nearly every store is reconfiguring a floor or two to keep impressing the still strong tourist business. While some of their branch stores may continue to suffer, the big retailers are putting their funds where they can find the greatest return on their investments. Here's the renovation slate:
Bloomingdale's is getting ready to totally overhaul their main floor including cosmetics, accessories and men's departments. Having recently debuted a new men's sportswear level this Spring, they will also continue the redesign of their entire men's department.
After an overwhelmingly positive response to their 10022-SHOE mega-department concept, Saks Fifth Avenue will next be rebuilding their third floor designer collection space, which has barely been touched since a major redesign in the late 1970's. Five other floors will be getting various touch-ups as well including a reassessment of the Main floor accessory and cosmetic areas whose reconfiguration was halted midway through a redesign in 2003.
Lord & Taylor continues to plan a long overdue top-to-bottom renovation which may include a downsizing or turning over entire floors to Fortunoff Home departments and new restaurants from NYC favorite Sarabeth's.
Bergdorf Goodman, which has just opened a huge, new Tom Ford shop in their men's store, is working on 4,000 square feet of reconceived space for accessories on the main floor as well as adding floor space for jewelry by closing the atrium opened when cosmetics moved down to the lower level.
Macy's is focusing their efforts in Herald Square on improving their unimpressive housekeeping as well as adding smaller renovations throughout the store. Its real efforts will be in upgrading the regional flagships they acquired through the conversion of the former May Co. stores like Marshall Field's former State Street store in Chicago and Hecht's in Washington DC.
Even Ralph Lauren is tearing down his former Polo Sport store at 888 Madison to build a bigger counterpart to the famous Mansion flagship across the street.
The only major store left out of the article is Barneys, whose open, more minimalistic interior has seen only a small amount of reconfiguration since its early '90s opening.
Perhaps it will be the one store where the luxury-minded will be able to shop in peace this Summer.
Fortifying the Flagships: Growth Engines Getting Big Bucks in Tough Times (WWD)