Bloomingdale’s Will Open a Second ‘Bloomie’s’ Concept Store

A year after Bloomingdale’s opened its first “Bloomie’s” concept store, the department store chain has announced plans to open its second location – this time in the Chicago area.

Slated to open at the end of 2022, the new 50,000 sq.-ft. Bloomie’s store will be located at Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie, Ill.

Once Bloomie’s opens, the retailer said it will close its existing Bloomingdale’s Old Orchard location. The company added that the mainline location will begin a clearance sale on Sept. 6 and will close at the end of October.

In Aug. 2021, Bloomingdale’s opened its first Bloomie’s store in the Washington, DC suburb of Fairfax, Va. The 22,000 square foot, smaller format, store was a departure from the chain’s average department store size, which measures about 200,000 square feet.

When it opened, Bloomie’s featured a tightly curated assortment of contemporary and luxury brands across men’s and women’s apparel including denim, active, and intimates; along with shoes, handbags, beauty, accessories, and fine jewelry. It also featured a restaurant and a slew of tech-enabled services.

The concept is a product of Macy’s Inc.’s three-year turnaround strategy, which was announced at its investor day in Feb. 2020. The plan included trimming 125 stores from its total footprint, cutting 2,000 jobs — or about 9% of its corporate workforce — and ramping up investments in both higher-margin private labels and off-price through Macy’s Backstage.