Bloomingdale’s Loyalty Program: Big Brown Bag, Tiny Rewards
Bloomingdale’s is an iconic U.S. department store founded in 1872 (!) that, like many of its peers, has seen shinier days. With just over 80 stores today, it still leans upscale, especially in beauty and fashion, and in some stores, home goods too.
And yes, it’s the store behind the famous “Big Brown Bag,” originally designed by Massimo Vignelli in 1971. A few years later, someone had the blindingly obvious idea to add a Medium Brown Bag and Little Brown Bag. Did someone get promoted over that? Curious minds want to know.🤔
Their loyalty program, Loyallist, launched in 2012, and this author has been a member ever since—passively. Why passively? Because spoiler alert: while the Big Brown Bag is iconic, the rewards program? It’s gives Big Brown 💩.
Let’s unpack the mess.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
How the program works:
The basic structure is simple:
1 point per $1 spent for non-cardholders.
If you have a Bloomingdale’s store card or their Amex, you can earn 3–10 points per $1, but here at Rewarded or Robbed, we focus on programs open to all—not credit card exclusives.
Point Accelerators:
Power Points: Limited-time promos tied to specific items or categories. These are the gold💰: $25 in rewards for every $100 spent. That’s a 25% return—spectacular if you can hit one. So pay attention when these are happening!
Triple Point Days: Choose 2–4 days a year (depending on your tier) to earn 3x points.
Multipliers: Throughout the year, you may see 2x or 3x offers on select items. Listed online on your account page.
⚠️ But beware: you can’t stack these promos. Power Points and Triple Point Days are strictly solo acts. Which is why we see marketing like the below screenshot where they are offering triple points and power points during the same time period. C’mon Bloomingdales, don’t tease!
Tier structure:
Member ($0-$4,999/year, free to join)
1 point per $1
2 Triple Point Days per year
Top of the List ($5,000/year)
3 Triple Point Days
Free shipping, unlimited returns, free gift wrap
Early access to Friends & Family Sale
Top of the List Unlocked ($15,000/year)
4 Triple Point Days
Free premium shipping
(Also, who named these tiers? "Top of the List Unlocked" implies the other one is... locked? We have questions😕.)
how you redeem points:
Every 5,000 points = $25 Reward. A decent reward amount…but the earn rate? Oof 👎
Base members earn at 0.5% return value.
Even on Triple Point Days, you're only getting 1.5%—still below the 5% return we consider decent for retail programs.
Rewards auto-load into your account and are valid for 180 days (which is generous compared to others, so finally some good news)
I feel we owe an apology to Nordstrom’s and The Gap brands who we dinged for having 1% return value. This feels like a race to the bottom among retailers on their free programs and we’re concerned.
⚠️Point Expiration: On January 1st, Bloomingdale’s wipes 85% of your points. Not 100%. Not 0%. Eighty-five 🤯. It’s a weird, punitive rule that makes no sense. You could earn 4,500 points, then wake up in the new year with just 675. It’s like Bloomingdale’s said, “Hold my martini while I invent the dumbest expiration policy imaginable.”
what’s the value
(When we calculate “return value”, we mean how much you got free relative to how much you had to spend to earn it. For example, if we said a redemption gives 10% return value,, it means for every $100 you spent in earning points, you got $10 worth in free rewards.)
| Tier | Non-Promotional Spend | Triple Point Day Spend |
|---|---|---|
| Base (under $5,000/year) | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| Top of the List ($5,000–$14,999/year) | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| Top of the List Unlocked ($15,000+) | 0.5% | 1.5% |
This program is clearly built for big spenders—but oddly, even they don’t get much more back. There’s no tier-exclusive earning boost. The only serious value driver is Power Points promos, which everyone gets access to. So what’s the reward for spending $15K+? Not much, apparently
🕵️♂️ the fine print that’s not fine
(Worth repeating). On January 1st of each year, 85% of remaining points on our Points account are forfeited. Still shaking our head on this.
Triple Point Rules:
o You must select them before checkout.
o They don’t apply at outlet stores.
o They can’t be combined with Power Points.
Tier Upgrades: Can take 60 days to process. What is this, 1985?
Verdict & summary:
Ok, no suspense here, we are not a fan of this program.
🚫Dismal Return Value on Points for base and higher tier members alike
🚫Bonkers point expiration policy that punishes loyal shoppers
🚫 Lackluster higher tier benefits
So we aren’t complete Debbie downers here are the (small) highlights:
👍🏻 Power Point promotions are excellent value at 25% return value. Ensure you keep track of when those happen
👍🏻being able to choose your triple point days is nice flexibility.
This one’s easy: Robbed.
If you’re a strategic shopper who only buys during Power Point events, you might squeak out some value. But for the average Loyallist? It’s more like Loyal-ish… because the rewards sure aren’t returning the favor.
Rewarded or Robbed?
🚫 robbed
Leave us a comment! Do you agree or disagree? Any further tips about Bloomingdales Loyallist?
