Life's a Beach for Bloomingdale's New Smaller Store Concept in Santa Monica
First it was a slick 90,000 square foot space in the heart of SoHo. Now Bloomingdale's (M) is hitting the beach in California -- Santa Monica to be specific â€" for the company's second toe-in-the-water test of smaller stores. Michael Gould, Bloomingdale's chairman and CEO, thinks this will be the ultimate proving ground to roll out the concept, and if he's right, retail may well be on its way to giving big box department stores the boot for good.
Gould told WWD that in order to stay relevant with a new generation of shoppers, Bloomingdale's is working to showcase well-edited assortments in an "environment that appeals to a significant community within the context of the character and DNA of Bloomingdale's." In other words, with half the space of a flagship the Santa Monica store will be forced to focus. By dumping home, kids, and plus size merchandise, the space is freed up for categories that generate higher sales per square foot including accessories, shoes, and the ever-popular cosmetics.
But Gould recognizes that a concept can't fly on editing alone. He said, "The store can't just be young and trendy. It has to relate to the community." In SoHo for instance, Bloomingdale's showcases the building's landmark heritage (all pressed tin ceilings and pitted floorboards) and skews the product mix to include up-and-coming designers. In Santa Monica, Bloomingdale's plan is similar, albeit with a California aesthetic (think cabanas, high ceilings, cement floors and cement columns) that will complement the overhauled Santa Monica Place.
Likewise, the product mix at the beach will reflect the tastes and trends of the community. And while Gould may appear to be grabbing the spotlight for this idea, parent company Macy's has been slowly rolling out its "My Macy's" localization initiative for the past two years. By tailoring merchandise to geographic locations, Macy's reported that all of the company's top 12 markets in sales growth were from the initial My Macy's pilot districts last year.
But what may really make Bloomingdale's concept stores revenue-driven standouts is management's investment in "theatrics" and customer service. Between revolving multi-media displays, fashion shows, yoga classes and the "B-Style Lab," a new model personal shopping model which hooks into Bloomingdales.com, the new smaller store template is poised to offer old school service in a thoroughly modern way. That's something that won't go out of style.
Image via Santa Monica City Council Web site
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