Bloomingdale's Closing its Doors in Santa Monica Place This Sunday

By Jack Simon

Bloomingdale's, an anchor at Santa Monica Place for the past 10 years, is closing its doors this weekend.

The department store at 315 Colorado Ave, fashioned after the New York City's Soho location, is holding a clearance sale for the next four days and shutting down its operation this Sunday, according to company officials.

The closure comes just three months after employees were notified by Macy's Inc., the parent company of Bloomingdale's, of its plan to shutter the Santa Monica store and 44 other locations nationwide by middle of this year. So far, the company has closed 9 stores and turned two of them into fulfillment centers.

Macy's is also planning to close three name-brand stores in California, including one in El Cajon, another in Richmond and a furniture store in Monterrey Park, company officials said.

In February 2020, Macy's, which also owns the retail brand Bluemercury, announced it plans to close one-fifths of its stores, or roughly 125 locations by 2023 and lay off more corporate positions to save more than $1 billion annually by 2022. And then the pandemic his retailers across the nation, which led to temporary store closures last March.

"As previously announced, Macy's is committed to rightsizing our store fleet by concentrating our existing retail locations in desirable and well-trafficked A and B malls," Macy's said in a prepared statement. "To that end, we announced several store closures that align with the guidance we provided in February 2020. These closures bring us closer to achieving the right mix of mall-based stores."

Currently, there are no plans to shutter any additional Bloomingdale's in the Los Angeles area. Its stores in Beverly Center, Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, Glendale Galleria, Century City and South Coast Plaza will remain open, the company said.

Macy's operates 34 Bloomingdale's stores, 544 Macy's department stores and 166 Bluemercury shops, according to its website.