Dive Brief:

• LG Electronics USA has partnered with Bloomingdale's on a store-within-a-store, featuring "LG Signature," the appliance maker's upscale line, opening Nov. 19 on the department store's housewares floor at its New York City flagship.

• It's the first time that major appliances and TVs will be sold at Bloomingdale's, through its 59th Street store and online, the companies said in a press release.

• The in-store shop is part of the retailer's new rotating pop-up effort, The Carousel @ Bloomingdale's, which is akin to The Market @ Macy's at some of the parent company's flagship stores. On 59th Street, 140 million pixels on 660 square feet of video walls will create an immersive experience for shoppers, the companies said.

Dive Insight:

The upscale department store joins J.C. Penney and others in working to take advantage of the bankruptcy of Sears, once one of the country's biggest major appliance sellers.

While Bloomingdale's is catering to its customer base with LG goods from the top end, however, it doesn't have the kind of upscale European brands that are already a feature in specialty appliance showrooms catering to monied homeowners. Appliance retailer Pirch, for example, sells names like Liebherr, La Cornue, Artos and Bertazzoni, among many others.

LG Signature items on offer at Bloomingdale's will include W8 OLED TVs, InstaView Door-in-Door Refrigerators, its Washer/Dryer Combo, Air Purifier, Dual-Fuel Double Oven Range and QuadWash Dishwasher, according to the release. 

Pirch has dramatically lifted the bar when it comes to the in-store appliance shopping experience. After abandoning straight retail sales in favor of catering to design professionals, Pirch earlier this year announced the launch of a boutique shop-in-shop concept in partnership with luxury French brand THG Paris, for example. And as impressive as LG's video displays at Bloomingdale's may be, they're competing with the working stoves and showers that are a hallmark of Pirch's store floors.

But the biggest problem with the effort is that it fails to work with how Bloomingdale's customers shop what has traditionally been a fashion-based department store, according to retail analyst Nick Egelanian, president of retail real estate services firm SiteWorks.

"Let's just say for the moment that that same customer wants to buy high end appliances — and clearly they do. What are the chances they want to do that at [the] same time that [they're] meeting their girlfriends for lunch at [the] cafe, stopping for a facial and picking up a blouse for a Friday night social event??!" he said in an email to Retail Dive. "And what are the chances they will do that without their kitchen designer in tow and access to a whole catalog of high end appliance options? It feels like a giant leap to me."  

If Bloomingdale's was forging ahead in appliances as part of a wider merchandising reboot, the move could work, he also said. "But I don't see that here — I see another poorly thought out knee jerk move by Macy's that will only hasten its downfall."