As the shopping mall model evolves and online retail grows, Smith shares his predictions for the future of physical stores.
Blue Nile to Open Third Physical Location
The e-tailer announced Wednesday that it would open its third brick-and-mortar location, and first outside of the New York City area, in Fairfax County, Va. by mid-summer.

Seattle--Blue Nile is continuing the expansion of its “webroom” concept with the news that it will open its third brick-and-mortar location in the Washington, D.C. area.
The new shop will be located at Tysons Corner Center mall in Fairfax County, Va., marking the company’s first outside of the New York City area. It’s expected to open by mid-summer.
The “webroom” concept developed by Blue Nile allows consumers to handle and try engagement rings and interact with a salesperson. All the buying, though, still happens online through BlueNile.com; customers do not walk out of the store with any physical merchandise in hand.
“With its tech-savvy, early adopter residents, the Washington, D.C. area is a strong market for Blue Nile and an ideal location for our third webroom,” Chief Merchandising Officer Julie Yoakum said.
Blue Nile opened its first physical location in June 2015 at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y. and then announced in early February that it would open its second webroom at The Westchester, a mall in White Plains, N.Y. that’s about 40 miles from the first location.
When the company announced its financial results last month, CEO Harvey Kanter said Blue Nile will open “up to four” new webrooms this year after seeing great success with its first location.
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