Bloomie’s will be a scaled-down, specialized version of Bloomingdale’s department stores, with room for new technologies, food and beverage and some categories where the company generally does best — luxury, advanced and contemporary women’s and men’s fashion, accessories and beauty. The new Bloomie’s concept debuts in the 2mn-ft² (185,806m²) Mosaic District shopping centre in Fairfax, Va., on Aug. 26. It is a test of Bloomingdale’s ability to innovate and a potential template for expansion. Bloomie’s is ‘a fill-in strategy,’ meaning a vehicle for strengthening Bloomingdale’s coverage in markets where it already has full-line stores, providing consumers with an alternative destination to shop, make returns or pick up packages ordered online. The store will carry an ‘approachable mix’ of well-known designers and emerging labels, and ‘fresh deliveries will arrive multiple times per week,’ the company said in a statement. There will be men’s and women’s apparel including contemporary and advanced ready-to-wear, denim, active, intimates, shoes, handbags, beauty and accessories, including eyewear and fine jewellery. Home products such as furniture and mattresses will not be sold because of the space required to display those products. On the service front, there will be a returns dropbox, in-store and curbside pickup for order made online, personalization, customization and alterations. Bloomie’s stylists will be equipped with digital selling capabilities, allowing them to access special finds for customers from other Bloomingdale’s stores, and also enabling them to work with bloomingdales.com customers digitally. In fitting rooms, customers can request assistance with the push of a button.