Previous Orchard, a 1.7-million-square-foot property at Previous Orchard Highway and Skokie Boulevard, hadn’t misplaced a division retailer since early 2018, when Lord & Taylor left. Along with the Bloomingdale’s on the mall’s north finish, Previous Orchard now features a Nordstrom at its south finish and a Macy’s within the center.

The Bloomingdale’s will shut when the Bloomie’s, a brand new smaller-format idea, opens later this yr, in accordance with an announcement from the retailer. Bloomingdale’s, owned by New York-based Macy’s, is slashing its footprint at Previous Orchard within the course of: The division retailer totals 206,000 sq. toes, whereas the Bloomie’s will occupy simply 50,000.

A Bloomingdale’s spokesman confirmed that the brand new retailer is opening in an area not too long ago vacated by bookseller Barnes & Noble. A consultant of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the French firm that owns Previous Orchard, didn’t reply to an electronic mail.

Previous Orchard has a robust lineup of tenants, together with Apple, Tiffany, L.L. Bean and Crate & Barrel, and its location, in rich north suburban Chicago, is a bonus. But it surely hasn’t sailed via the previous few years with out some problem. All malls suffered in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, customers stayed house and plenty of shops have been ordered to shut.

Previous Orchard was no exception. Estimated gross sales on the mall fell to $353.6 million in 2020, down practically 36% from 2019, in accordance with a report ready in February for the village of Skokie. The report didn’t embrace 2021 knowledge, when the retail market began to stabilize.

Nonetheless, about 21% of the mall was vacant as of February, in accordance with the report. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has struggled to re-lease the Lord & Taylor retailer; a digital actuality gaming operator occupies lower than half the area beneath a short-term lease, the report says.

The mall additionally stuffed one other emptiness earlier this yr, when the Capital Grille leased a ten,000-square-foot restaurant area there that had been empty since McCormick & Schmick’s moved out in 2018.

Skokie officers have stepped in to offer a serving to hand to Previous Orchard, a significant supply of property income for the village and native colleges. The Skokie Village Board in March voted to approve a redevelopment settlement that would come with an additional 1% gross sales tax on transactions on the mall to assist fund $84 million of enhancements there.

Huge division retailer chains have closed shops all around the nation over the previous a number of years, a development that accelerated throughout the pandemic. Extra not too long ago, they’ve begun spinning out smaller-format shops with a slimmed-down choice. The Macy’s chain, for example, has been rolling out its Market by Macy’s idea, not too long ago signing a lease for a retailer in Evergreen Park.

The Bloomie’s at Previous Orchard, in the meantime, would be the second retailer of its type within the nation. The primary Bloomie’s opened final August in Fairfax, Va.

“The brand new idea stays genuine to the Bloomingdale’s model but reinterprets it on a smaller scale that’s infused with vitality and ripe for discovery,” Charles Anderson, director of shops for Bloomingdale’s, mentioned within the assertion. “We’re wanting ahead to sharing the ‘Bloomie’s’ expertise with our loyal North Shore clientele and new prospects alike.”

The story has been corrected to indicate that Lord & Taylor closed its Previous Orchard retailer in early 2018.