A look ahead at the reinvented Bloomingdale's wing at MOA
At least four “major international fashion-forward retail stores”–three new to town–will replace Bloomingdale’s at Mall of America, vice president of public relations Dan Jasper announced Wednesday. He was not ready to name names today, but Zara and TopShop are among the likely contenders. (Worth noting: another hot new concept in expansion mode, Joe Fresh, is Canadian. That counts as international!) Expect announcements over the next few months as leases are finalized.
Bloomingdale’s was one of the original MOA anchors, and is the first to leave. The Macy’s Inc.-owned retailer announced plans to close three other stores nationwide. The MOA store will close in March. A sale starts this Sunday.
“We are grateful to Bloomingdale’s for 20 years and wish them the best,” Jasper said. “This gives us an opportunity to be a trendsetter.”
MOA plans to break out of the traditional anchor model and will add a sub-level, turning the larger space into a wing for “luxury retailers and a new upscale restaurant.” One of the yet-to-be-named retailers will occupy a 90,000 square foot space on the new sub-level and first floor (hmm…smells like Top Shop). On the third level of the Bloomingdale’s space, Jasper said, “we will continue to add destination value-priced retail.” Owner Triple Five Worldwide will invest $30 to $50 million for the renovations and new construction, which is scheduled to begin in mid-February.
Tags: bloomingdale's, Mall of America, Triple Five
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Zara and Topshop seem likely. What about Madewell?
Did they say when they plan to share…?
TopShop would be wonderful – let’s just hope they are smart enough to not “dumb down” for the midwest like Bloomingdale’s did!
I would LOVE Zara!
Zara and Topshop…EEEK! SO exciting! I would LOVE an LK Bennett store here, too (doubtful though).
Zara, TopShop, Madwell, and Mango would be incredible additions!
Uniqlo??!
The largest Topshop in the US is in Chicago and is 49,000 sf.
The largest Uniqlo in the US is in New york is 90,000 sf.
The largest Zara in the US is in chacago and is 17,000 sf.
Seems like there is a dark horse contender to take that 90,000 sf spot that we don’t know about. Department/Specialty store?
And I can’t spell Chicago : )
Some other names being bandied around to take some of the vacant space are Lord & Taylor and Kohl’s.
Ew, please not kohl’s. Anything european would be good.
The dark horse is Von Maur…
Allison: When you say “He was not ready to name names today, but Zara and TopShop are among the likely contenders.” What makes you say Zara and TopShop? Are those your ideas or are they actual contenders stated by the decision makers at MOA? I get frustrated when you throw out those names and get peoples hopes up and I wish you listed why you think something is a “contender” as a new retail store here in the Twin Cities. Do you really think it’s realistic that TopShop would come to MOA? Come on Allison – stop getting your reader’s hopes up by throwing out big names without a reason to back up those statements. One post you say it’s JCPenney that could be coming and then then next post you list Zara and TopShop! You make the Twin Cities seem naive and uneducated!
Katy: You raise some good points. There is a critical difference between a blog and a newspaper article. If I had been writing about this for the paper (which I did for many years), I would not have included any speculation of my own, and any one else’s would have required direct attribution. Now that I’m writing for a magazine, my blog has become a place where I can still break news, but I also have more freedom to present some of my own opinions. When I first confirmed that Bloomingdale’s was leaving, I started thinking about other traditional anchors that could take its place. I threw out JC Penney as a guess – strictly a guess — because they have new leadership (including ex Target whiz and Minnesotan Michael Francis) and a hunger to become more fashionable. But once the MOA announced their plans to steer away from an anchor and released clues like fashion forward and international, I had more to go on. I’ve got great industry sources, and a close relationship with the execs at MOA. Based on off-the-record conversations, and the mall’s statements…I named a few reasonably likely contenders. Nothing set in stone. I may be wrong. But, yes, I can back my speculation.
Uniqlo!!! Love place!
Or Madewell!!