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Bloomingdale's Leaving Mall of America
Well, Mall of America has lost one of its four original anchor stores. Bloomingdale's has announced that it will be moving out of the spot it occupied for 20 years. (It is also closing one other location in the U.S.)
According to the press release just delivered to my inbox, the mall has known for quite some time of the transition and has a plan for the corner spot. Rather than wooing a retail giant (speculation tended toward JC Penney or Herberger's or, perhaps too hopefully, Neiman Marcus) the Mall is bringing in "at least four international fashion-forward" retailers on the first and second level, three of which are new to the market. The third level will house "destination value-priced retail." Sounds like the sub-level will be used for a 90,000-square-foot retailer and there might also be the addition of restaurants.
The $30-to-$50-million overhaul will "complement" the recent renovations to South and East Avenues—sounds like the renovation will indeed pull in other desired retailers. Names will be released over the next several months—no timeline was given on the desired completion date of the renovation—which leaves us time to speculate. I've settled on my picks: Zara, Topshop, Uniqlo, and Mango, none of which are in our market now. Leave your picks in the comments!
Posted on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
It would be great to have Uniqlo here. I love visiting that place every time I'm in New York.
I wouldn't mind seeing Onassis, Penguin, and Muji, although they're only in NYC, I think.
Does "destination value-priced retail" mean Target? Wouldn't that be interesting?
I heard on the news today that three out of the four high-end retailers have never been in our market before... so one has/currently is? Hmmm. I have no guesses, but MOA sure is changing!