Gadget blog and upscale NYC department store--a match made in heaven?

(Credit: Henri Bendel)

According to the PSFK blog, Manhattan's legendary luxury department store Henri Bendel is so notoriously old-school that it launched its first Web site a month ago. But the retailer is moving a step further into the Digital Age by opening a holiday gadget "pop-up store"-- curated by bloggers--inside its Fifth Avenue space.

Last year, Bendel had a holiday shop centered on the youth-oriented mobile phone carrier Helio.

But for 2007, Popgadget, which caters to female readers who appreciate both style and function and is staffed by a team of writers around the world, has selected an array of about 20 gadgets to be sold at Bendel for the duration of the holiday season. The "pop-up store" apparently opened on Monday; I might have to go check it out.

As for Bendel, this is probably a smart move for the store. The upscale women's fashion hub, which first opened in 1895, has become closely associated with the young and tech-savvy Gossip Girl crowd, so the displays of Prada cell phones, Archos portable media players, and high-end Griffin iPod accessories won't be particularly out of place.

But if the selection (or the luxe atmosphere at Bendel) isn't quite your thing, there are other holiday tech shops that have sprung up around the city--like the Wired Store, which opened in SoHo last week.