Dive Brief:
- Bloomie’s — Bloomingdale’s small-format concept — is set to open its fourth location on Nov. 14 at The Grove Shopping Center in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, per a release. There currently are Bloomie’s locations in Fairfax, Virginia; Skokie, Illinois; and Seattle with plans to open more, per the company.
- This will be the first Bloomie's in New Jersey and the first to offer an all-women’s assortment, which includes contemporary ready-to-wear, accessories, beauty products and fine jewelry. The latest 21,000-square-foot Bloomie’s in New Jersey will offer such notable brands as Mother, Veronica Beard, Rag & Bone, Cinq a Sept, L'Agence, Staud, Tory Burch, Chanel Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury and Roberto Coin.
- The New Jersey store will host a “winter wonderland” event at its grand opening, featuring branded activations and gifts, as well as a “holiday bash” on Dec. 7. The latter includes a meet-and-greet with Santa, a brunch with giveaways and music, holiday treat carts and “customization opportunities.”
Dive Insight:
The new Bloomie’s location is intended to complement Bloomingdale’s existing presence in New Jersey, which includes four full-line shops and three outlet stores in Short Hills, Bergen, Willowbrook, Bridgewater, Princeton and Jersey Gardens. It features services like styling, alterations, gift wrapping and a grab-and go food spot.
"Bloomie's is a perfect example of how our brand continues to evolve with our shoppers' needs and preferences." Rachel Abeles, Bloomingdale’s senior vice president of customer and revenue growth, said in a statement. "This Shrewsbury Bloomie's is a milestone for us, it strengthens our presence in the local NJ area and marks our first women's-only location.”
Opinion is mixed by retail experts on how effective opening smaller format stores may be in improving parent company Macy’s, which is planning to close 150 of its namesake stores over the next three years.
“Financially and in terms of store numbers, these smaller shops are not currently a big part of Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s business,” Neil Saunders, GlobalData Managing Director, said via email. “However, they are strategically important as they are a future vehicle for growth. It is much easier to open a smaller format as there are more locations where these stores are viable, and it is less capitally intense to expand the concept.”
According to Nick Egelanian, president of retail development firm SiteWorks, the idea to open small-concept stores may be a good one, but it won’t detract from the fact that Macy’s, with its traditional large locations, has been teetering. In its most recent quarter, overall company net sales fell 3.8% year over year to $4.9 billion. By banner, Macy’s net sales fell 4.4%, Bloomingdale’s net sales fell 0.2% and Bluemercury net sales increased 1.7%.
“Everything else [Macy’s does] consumes critical resources and focus that should be laser-focused on the primary task at hand — coming up with a viable business in their core markets,” Egelanian said via LinkedIn message. “And even [if] the new stores are successful, there is not enough potential there to save the company. First order of business should be to close up to 400 more stores in the middle of the country while adopting a Manhattan Project approach to saving the stores on the coasts.”
