Bloomingdale's to open Manhattan outlet

The island of Manhattan boasts two Bloomingdale’s locations. The first and smaller location would be the townhouse chic style store right in the heart of Soho among some of the busiest shopping traffic in lower Manhattan. The prime location would be their iconic flagship store right on the bustling Lexington Avenue, a palatial space only worthy of one of America’s finest department stores. Well, Bloomingdale’s will be able to add a third Manhattan location to their map, because Macy’s Inc. announced on Thursday March 5th, 2015 that they would be opening a Bloomingdale’s outlet on 72nd Street right in the heart of the Upper West Side.

Bloomingdale’s to open outlet on Manhattan’s Upper West Side

It will be the 14th Bloomingdale’s outlet store, and the first in a major urban area, and what better place to be than the fashion capital of America. As expected, this won’t be some tiny little store front either. The store will be three levels and an impressive 25,000 square feet. They will offer an entire selection of apparel and accessories, ranging from men’s, women’s, children’s, purses, shoes, and lingerie. “This is a great opportunity to expand the reach of our brand to value-conscious customers as well as better serve the expansive needs of our core west side customers. We look forward to serving this thriving and diverse neighborhood where so many shoppers are already well acquainted with the unique offering of Bloomingdale’s,” Chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale’s Tony Spring said in a statement.

Bloomingdale’s will face some tough competition from luxury retail department store Nordstrom and their premier outlet Nordstrom Rack located on the opposite end of Manhattan in Union Square, however. While Nordstrom Rack is located on the opposite end of Manhattan entirely, people come from all over the five boroughs to get their heavily discounted designer fixes. The big question here is who will be taking customers from whom? Nordstrom Rack could live to serve those price conscious luxury lovers in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, while the new Bloomingdale’s outlet could live to serve those in upper Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. The boroughs named being the ones with easiest travel proximity to the stores, respectfully.

Nordstrom Rack also has a much larger following with over 100 Nordstrom rack stores across the U.S. easily dwarfing Bloomingdale’s 13 locations, although, Bloomingdale’s traditionally has a smaller array of stores across the U.S. in general, and is fairly selective about where they will open new locations. Either way, this will be an exciting new endeavor for the company. Given the amount of retail traffic in Manhattan the store is sure to boast impressive revenue, competition or no competition. This could be the beginning of a new era for Bloomingdale’s as they expand their outlet footprint, and one that luxury apparel lovers on a budget will greatly appreciate.