Bloomingdale’s, the famous US department store brand, has been involved in an innovative fitness venture.

On August 20, it hosted its Fashionable Fundraiser to support amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, with a pledge to make a donation of US$75,000 to the charity.

Bloomingdale’s wanted to engage its customers in a physical competition to help raise money, and turned to Webracing to help organise an in-store cycling event. Cycles and screens were installed on 32 shop floors, with shoppers encouraged to compete against each other in virtual on-screen races. Four of the stores were even connected online, allowing the stores to compete against each other in real time. Bloomingdale’s offered a large number of prizes and discounts for riders, and some 18,000 miles were cycled on a single day.