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Bloomingdale's building a smaller Palo Alto store

Original post made on Jan 5, 2012

Longstanding Stanford Shopping Center tenant Bloomingdale's will build a smaller store at the mall, its parent company, Macy's, Inc. announced Wednesday (Jan. 4).

Read the full story here Web Link posted Thursday, January 5, 2012, 9:45 AM

Comments (11)

Posted by David
a resident of Midtown
on Jan 5, 2012 at 10:20 am

Where at the center will the new store be located?


Posted by stretch
a resident of another community
on Jan 5, 2012 at 10:41 am

Good luck getting an answer to that question. I'm picturing it in the parking lot at Nordstrom, on the Sand Hill side. It's going to have to take up parking space, since it seems that no one else is leaving their store site.


Posted by Crescent Park Dad
a resident of Crescent Park
on Jan 5, 2012 at 10:50 am

I'm guessing the former Williams Sonoma Home Store?


Posted by Resident
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 5, 2012 at 10:56 am

Not too surprised, the present store is a mess with lots of wasted space.

The bigger question is going to be what will take over that prime location?

No doubt it will be something similar.


Posted by moi
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 5, 2012 at 11:10 am

Perhaps they will build at the recently-vacated Andronico's space next to Crate & Barrel?

And I doubt that Bloomingdale's will choose to keep all of their employees for a smaller store, alas.


Posted by I shop less
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 5, 2012 at 1:48 pm

Stanford has backed off enlarging the Shopping Center because large retail is suffering from competition from internet sales.

40 years ago when I first came here there would be lines outside Macy's waiting to get in when they had sales. I was over there on New Years Day when everything was 50% off. There were more sales clerks than shoppers!!!

If you read the article in the Daily News you'll see both Macy's and Bloomingdales are planning to close or downsize stores throughout the U.S. There is no doubt that retail sales cannot compete with the internet and it will only get worse. Retail is slowly dying.


Posted by MV Resident
a resident of Mountain View
on Jan 5, 2012 at 4:40 pm

The best tenant for a larger retail space would be Apple. Unfortunately for Simon Property Group, Apple has eyes on the former Z Gallerie location on University Avenue.

Apple Retail blows doors on pretty much everyone in terms of revenue per square foot. The Peninsula could definitely handle a flagship Apple Retail store.


Posted by In-Name-Only
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 5, 2012 at 6:06 pm

> The current store will be razed and replaced by a new specialty
> retail development by Simon Property Group, developer and manager
> of the shopping center, which is owned by Stanford University.

Not exactly true. Stanford owns the land, but all the rest was sold to Simon Properties some years ago--

Simon buys Stanford Shopping Center / Mall company pays $333 million for Peninsula hub:
Web Link



Posted by Is it historic?
a resident of Stanford
on Jan 5, 2012 at 6:37 pm

Wait. Isn't the bloomingdale's building historic? Then it must be preserved. If they build a new building, I hope it is aesthetically pleasing. Also I hope the new store does not create more traffic in the city. But at least they will have to provide housing for their employees


Posted by Kate
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jan 5, 2012 at 7:04 pm

Isn't the present Bloomingdale's store the old Emporium of blessed memory? That was an affordable find-everything-department store. It may sound sacrilegious and horrify upscale Stanford U and the Wilkes Bashford and Magnin customers, but many would love to see a JC Penny Store and other affordable shopping venues. in the meantime, it's high ho, high ho--it's off to Mt. View....and Cupertino...we go.


Posted by Dave
a resident of another community
on Jan 11, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Seems to me that the level of sales do not justify the high rents that the Big B pays at stanford mall. That said, they are not downsizing all of their stores across the USA and in some cases where they have good business clientele Bloomies has home stores carrying higher end furniture than MACY. Maybe when the new specialty shop section is built ( a long way away) on the original Emporium site, the big B will put a home store in conjunction with the specialty shops. Don't forget they are big in home stores in NY FLA and MASS and apparently have one in Vegas. For example, at the Chestnut Hill Mall, outside Boston, they have a two stores which include an apparel building and a home store. That would be the best outcome of the situation at Stanford.


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