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Nordstrom is expanding its footprint in Manhattan
The retailer has long held off on physical stores in NYC
Nordstrom is making a bigger push into Manhattan.
In addition to the seven-story flagship store Nordstrom plans to open near Columbus Circle in the fall — upscale department store chain is adding two smaller outposts in the West Village and Upper East Side, the New York Times reported. The move is part of its new Nordstrom Local chain.
The two smaller stores will be for online pickups and returns and will not carry merchandise, the report said. They will also have services like tailoring and personal styling. The West Village location will be located at the Rudin Family’s and Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings Group’s The Greenwich Lane. Nordstrom has signed a 2,413 square-foot lease at 13 Seventh Avenue, according to a statement.
The company’s research showed that many Manhattanites don’t want to leave their neighborhoods — which was a driving factor for adding the hubs.
“What we’ve heard from customers is that by and large, outside of getting to work, they do like to stay in their neighborhoods and it’s tough to get around,” Shea Jensen, Nordstrom’s senior vice president of customer experience, said. “We want to use this as a way to complement our footprint, not double down, where we know we have customers.”
The new locations add to the push that Seattle-based Nordstrom has been making in New York after decades of holding off. The city is the retailer’s biggest market for online sales. By the end of 2019, there will be six locations in Manhattan: the flagship, which will include women’s merchandise; the men’s store; two Nordstrom Racks; and the two Local hubs.
Nordstrom opened a men’s store last year at the Moinian Group’s 3 Columbus Circle, and will open its flagship across the street at the former Fisk Building and in the base of Extell Development’s Central Park Tower.
The company introduced Nordstrom Local in 2017 in Los Angeles, where it now has three shops. The company said customers who visited a Local spent on average two and a half times what other Nordstrom shoppers did and made returns earlier, the report said. [NYT] — Meenal Vamburkar