Second Bloomie's To Open in Chicago

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Alpha8472
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Second Bloomie's To Open in Chicago

Post by Alpha8472 »

This is the 51,000 square foot tiny version of Bloomingdale's with concrete floors.

I don't know how this will do. It looks like a cheap warehouse store.

https://chainstoreage.com/second-bloomi ... en-chicago
buckguy
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Re: Second Bloomie's To Open in Chicago

Post by buckguy »

This actually fits Bloomingdale's pretty well. They have replaced several full-line stores with much smaller footprints--Friendship Heights is half the size of the White Flint store it replaced in the DC area.. They're more about contemporary and stylish than being "fancy". They started out as a lower middle bracket store like Macy's or Gimbels in NYC and when they decided to move upmarket they did through displays and other fairly simple ways of highlighting their new more fashionable merchandise rather than investing in elegant decor. They made utilitarian stuff things like housewares and furniture seem stylish this way and were probably the model for Macy's chainwide makeover in the 70s/80s that started in SF. Their main store in NYC is rather plain and has none of the style of even Macy's main floor. They made that work for them and have kept at it their branches often began as castoffs from parent company Federated's mergers with Macy's and May---they don't have the old school elegance of Saks or Lord Taylor (RIP) and also lack the ostentatiousness of Nieman-Marcus.
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Re: Second Bloomie's To Open in Chicago

Post by rwsandiego »

The funny thing is they already have a very large full-line Bloomingdale's store at Old Orchard. I wonder if that store will close.

EDIT: Google is your friend. This small-format store replaces the big Bloomindale's, which never really took off. It was in an odd location (far north end of the mall) and it wasn't as nice as the Marshall Field's and Nordstrom. Even after Field's became Macy's I think the Macy's was nicer.
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Re: Second Bloomie's To Open in Chicago

Post by storewanderer »

This looks a lot of things- upscale isn't one of them. Looks like it is trying to be hip and cool.

I guess we will see how it does.
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