Nordstrom is opening its first store in Manhattan today but it will be filled with 25,000 pairs of discount shoes instead of $4,000 dresses, Stephanie Rosenbloom reports. The upscale retailer is
actually making its debut in the Big Apple with a low-cost sister store, Nordstrom Rack, located downtown in Union Square.
"Ideally, we would have led with a full-line store," company
president Blake W. Nordstrom admitted during a walking tour yesterday, but the ideal piece of real estate proved to be elusive.
Like other Nordstrom Racks, about 25% of the
merchandise comes from full-line Nordstrom stores and the rest is purchased specifically for the store. One innovation is the checkout line, where a large television screen directs a single line of
customers to one of 19 cash registers.
"We're big fans of Whole Foods," says Geevy Thomas, president of Nordstrom Rack, who revealed that the company studied how New Yorkers are
moved through registers at the organic supermarket.
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