New Bloomie's Concept in Santa Monica
Santa Monica Place will be saying goodbye to its Macy’s and hello to a new kind of Bloomingdale’s.
On Nov. 5, Macerich Inc., the developer of the Santa Monica Place retail center in Santa Monica, Calif., announced it will close its Macy’s in February 2009. In its place, the Bloomingdale’s “SoHo” concept store will open in 2010. It will take inspiration from the compact, fashion-forward Bloomingdale’s in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The new concept will feature a smaller size than the full-line Bloomingdale’s store. It will also offer an assortment of in-store shops for individual fashion designers. The Santa Monica Place Bloomingdale’s will be the first SoHo concept store constructed outside of New York. Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s are both owned by Macy’s Inc.
Santa Monica Place’s 105,000-square-foot SoHo Bloomingdale’s will be one of three Bloomingdale’s stores planned. In August 2011, a SoHo Bloomingdale’s will open in Washington, D.C. In Fall 2011, a full-line Bloomingdale’s will open in the Westfield Valley Fair retail center in San Jose, Calif.
The SoHo Bloomingdale’s will be among the new tenants in the soon-to-be-renovated Santa Monica Place, which Macerich is recasting from an enclosed 1980s-style mall into a 550,000-square-foot open-air retail and culinary center focused on luxury.
Macerich announced a handful of other Santa Monica Place tenants on Nov. 5. They will include specialty shops for Coach, BCBG Max Azria, Joe’s Jeans, True Religion and Lacoste. As previously reported in California Apparel News, Kitson will open an 8,000-square-foot emporium at Santa Monica Place. Nordstrom also has committed to building a department store at Santa Monica Place. The retail center is more than half leased, according to Randy Brant, executive vice president of Macerich.
Santa Monica Place will focus on retail geared toward luxury and adult consumers. It will be a complement to the adjacent Third Street Promenade retail district, which offers popular retailers geared toward juniors such as Rip Curl, Pacific Sunwear and Abercrombie & Fitch. —Andrew Asch
