Not everyone knows that Nordstrom, mostly famous for their off-the-charts amazing customer service, started as a shoe store here in Seattle, way back in the days when Eddie Bauer still sold shotguns (really).
Fast forward to 2010, and for the first time ever, Nordstrom has a store in Manhattan. Stephanie Rosenbloom recently published a nice piece about it here in The New York Times.
One of the things I really like about this store is that there are some risks for Nordstrom, but from a timing perspective, I think it’s a brilliant move on their part and I, for one, think more established companies need to be taking these kinds of risks in the current economic climate as they rethink what the future holds.
You can read the article, but the gist of it is that instead of opening a traditional Nordstrom that would compete with the higher priced stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, and others, for many reasons they opened a Nordstrom Rack instead. The Rack is the much lower priced store that they use to move the items that didn’t sell in the other stores, in addition to some lower priced brands. Part of the decision to open a Rack stemmed from the impossibility and cost of getting the space to open a big Nordstrom (as Rosenbloom says in classic New York Times humor – it’s like finding the “perfect porridge”).
While the Nordstrom brand is well known on the East coast, to enter Manhattan with the Rack store does veer away from their strong customer service brand promise and there is some risk there, but as Rosenbloom points out, they made some specific changes to the model based on the mentality of the Manhattan shopper. Well managed lines and both shoes on the shelf (as opposed to one in other Racks where you had to take it to the counter for its “mate”) are very smart adjustments that sound as though they will serve Nordstrom well. It’s great to see this kind of attention to detail in really getting into the head of the target customer and making some pretty fundamental adjustments. I also think it’s really smart to look across industries (they cited Whole Foods as their inspiration for the line management model) for best practices that also line up with their image.
The other piece of this that I think is very smart is essentially the realization that the reports are real, unemployment will remain high for a long time, and it’s much more in line with demand to have a low priced store, even in Manhattan, than the more full priced store right now. Going to the Rack in Seattle down by the Pike Place Market used to be something of an embarrassment in the 1990s, but now Nordstrom is looking pretty smart having two really strong brands in the marketplace, and it just so happens that the Rack is the right one for right now in New York. I think this is one shoe that fits perfectly.
-Ric
P.S. I am also old enough to remember the “Nordie” – does anyone else remember those?
Great post Ric, thanks. And, I do remember receiving “Nordie” balloons at the downtown Seattle store when I was a little girl!
I remember the balloons, and I also remember they had plush toys that were sort of schmoo-like.