What’s in Store? Mum’s the Word at Bloomie’s

Only 12 more shopping days until. . .The Opening.

Let a 37-year-old New York transplant tell you how hard it is to cool her heels before the Bloomingdale’s debut at Fashion Island: Her name is Mimi Holcombe, and she is a Bloomie’s addict.

Maybe once a week, the paralegal used to bop into the original Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan to pick up a microwave-ready Cornish hen for dinner or check out the seasonal Ralph Lauren linens or try on a swimsuit in front of the “nice mirrors.”

But Holcombe’s mad dashes had to stop in July, when she moved to Coto de Caza in a state without a single Bloomingdale’s.

And then she heard the buzz: Bloomingdale’s is coming.

“I said, ‘Oh, my God! Yes! I’ll survive,’ ” gasped Holcombe, who once bought a full-length mink coat at Bloomingdale’s on her way back from the restroom to meet her husband.

Hard-core fans--and others who know the department store by reputation only--are counting the days until The Opening on Nov. 16 in Newport Beach.

Besides the Fashion Island location, Bloomingdale’s will open its first West Coast stores this month in Century City, Sherman Oaks and Palo Alto.

In Orange County, more than 10,000 people already have a Bloomingdale’s credit card. At Fashion Island, hundreds of callers have begged unsuccessfully for a sneak peek. One caller asked if Bloomingdale’s will have a shuttle from San Diego (it won’t). Onlookers try to slip by security.

The buzz comes partly from the cachet of the Bloomingdale’s name, experts say.

“It’s a mecca,” said Dorothy Metcalfe, campus director of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Costa Mesa.

At a Fashion Island office, one woman in her 80s spotted public relations director Susan Hill and pulled out a tattered Bloomingdale’s credit card from her wallet.

“I’ve been waiting for you for 30 years!” the woman cried.

Some Bloomie’s fans know the store only through its catalog, which offers a $169 leopard print dog bed (the matching bone-shaped pillow is extra) and $70 Calvin Klein Barbie outfit (black bra and panties included).

Others have shopped at one of the chain’s existing 17 stores or bought into Bloomingdale’s own high-powered spin--”the most famous store in the world,” its press release trumpets (remember Harrod’s of London).

Even Bloomie’s junkies are hard pressed to explain the store’s lure. They mention the urgent, hip vibe of its flagship 59th Street store in Manhattan, the tantalizing feeling that they could stumble upon the latest designer--this is the place, after all, that discovered Ralph Lauren and Perry Ellis.

Manhattan’s 10-story Bloomingdale’s takes up a city block. The place exudes a New York vibe: big, bold, fast-paced. It is a destination store, a place to spend the day.

Some shoppers wonder if the Fashion Island Bloomingdale’s will have the same feel--and if so, whether that would clash with Orange County’s more conservative sensibilities.

But one image consultant says the store’s presence alone is what matters. “It’s another first-class image, similar to when the [Orange County] Performing Arts Center went into our community,” said Dianna Pfaff-Martin, founder of California Image Advisors in Newport Beach.

In Manhattan, Bloomingdale’s built its reputation on cutting-edge fashion, said Metcalfe, a former buyer for the Broadway. It takes chances on the lines of promising, unknown designers.

Showcase designers get cubbyhole boutiques within the store. And the store offers only-at-Bloomingdale’s signature items.

“I always went to Bloomingdale’s to see what was happening in the market,” Metcalfe said.

Local fans say they get tired of saving their shopping for stops at Bloomingdale’s on trips to New York City.

At the Manhattan store, Newport Beach resident Leann Benvenuti found a stunning holiday outfit of red silk palazzo pants, camisole and crepe wool short-waisted bolero jacket by Pamela Dennis, a rising young New York designer.

Benvenuti, 36, heard the news that Bloomingdale’s might come to Orange County even before it hit the papers last year.

“Everyone, everyone in Newport knew,” she said.

Interior designer Dana Eggerts couldn’t resist peeking in the back door of the roped-off Bloomingdale’s on her last trip to Fashion Island. She is a fan of the Manhattan Bloomingdale’s.

“If they open the type of store they have back [East], I think it’d be unbelievably fabulous,” said Eggerts, president of Creative Design Consultants Inc. in Costa Mesa.

This much can be told about the Newport Beach Bloomingdale’s, which is taking over the old Broadway building: It is all angles and soft lights and white wash. The staff is psyched--the general manager leads employees in three pep rallies a day--and wants to keep details about the store a secret to keep the buzz alive.

“But what about the shoe department?” asked Holcombe, the recent New York transplant, pumping a reporter for information. “Will they carry size 5 1/2?”

(Yes.)