Designers Shine at Debut of South Coast Plaza's Bloomie's
Bloomingdale’s is on a California land rush.
In September 2006, Bloomingdale’s opened a West Coast flagship store at the Westfield San Francisco Centre in San Francisco. In November it opened a store at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. Next up is the debut of a three-level, 291,169-square-foot Bloomingdale’s located at the exclusive South Coast Plaza shopping center in Costa Mesa, Calif.
The store opened on May 4, and it literally aims to be a beacon for luxury and designer shopping. Bloomingdale’s Executive Vice President of Creative Services Jack Hruska placed a glass faccedil;ade over the south end of the store’s building. When illuminated, it will appear like a shining light over the bustling San Diego Freeway, which faces the store’s south wall, according to Michael Gould, Bloomingdale’s chairman and chief executive.
“It singles the store out,” Gould said. “It will become an icon on the 405 [San Diego] Freeway.”
The store may outshine other Bloomingdale’s in designer shopping. The South Coast Plaza store will offer an abundance of designer merchandise, including more than eight designer boutiques in the store that are not available at the luxurious Westfield San Francisco Centre store.
The mini-boutiques may also create increased competition in the South Coast Plaza. Consumers will have the choice of visiting boutiques devoted to designers such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and beauty brand Kiehl’s at Bloomingdale’s. Or they could walk inside the mall and shop at the Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Kiehl’s shops located in South Coast Plaza.
Gould forecast that the Bloomingdale’s boutiques will attract more business to South Coast Plaza and its already-existing designer stores. The mini-stores will increase the visibility of these highprofile brands and give customers the chance to shop for designer merchandise in different environments.
He also forecast that the new store’s business will not adversely affect the Bloomingdale’s at the nearby Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach, Calif., located less than eight miles away from South Coast Plaza. They might also serve different markets. “It will be a different customer,” Gould said. “There will be customers for both markets.”
Shopping-center owner Shaheen Sadeghi agreed. He owns The Lab and The Camp specialty shopping centers in Costa Mesa. “The South Coast Plaza Bloomingdale’s will not crush the Fashion Island Bloomingdale’s,” Sadeghi said.
He forecast that South Coast Plaza will attract some of the highestend shoppers and many overseas tourists, while the Fashion Island Bloomingdale’s will serve the luxury shoppers living around Fashion Island.
The Fashion Island Bloomingdale’s has recently benefited from capital improvements such as a Ralph Lauren Black Label boutique, and it also experienced a remodel of the jewelry and cosmetics departments, according to Gould.
Like the other 38 Bloomingdale’s spread across the United States, the South Coast Plaza store will mix some of the panache of the Bloomingdale’s flagship store on New York’s 59th Street, while absorbing some local ambiance, according to Stephanie Solomon, Bloomingdale’s fashion director.
“[Our customer] loves the idea of having a slice of New York, except the merchandise is a little more colorful and the fabrics are lighter. It’s happier. It must have something to do with the sunshine,” Solomon said.
