Nordstrom Tries On a New Look: Stores Without Merchandise
Nordstrom Tries On a New Look: Stores Without Merchandise
New concept comes as retailers wrestle with how to best
to use their physical spaces and attract customers
By Suzanne Kapner Sept. 10, 2017 8:03 a.m. ET
Nordstrom Inc. is opening a new store next month that is
a fraction of the size of its typical locations, where shoppers will be able to
enjoy services such as manicures and on-site tailoring.
Something it won’t carry: clothes.
Called Nordstrom Local, the new concept comes as
retailers across the U.S. are wrestling with how to best to use their physical
spaces and attract customers who are migrating to the web. For department-store
chains like Macy’s Inc., J.C. Penney Co., Kohl’s Corp. and Sears Holdings Corp.,
one answer has been to shrink their footprint by closing stores or
experimenting with smaller ones.
Nordstrom, with roughly 121 full-line locations,
continues to open traditional department stores, including one in Toronto this
coming Friday. But it also recognizes that consumer habits are changing.
“There aren’t store customers or online customers—there
are just customers who are more empowered than ever to shop on their terms,”
said Erik Nordstrom, co-president of the retailer.
Nordstrom Local, scheduled to open Oct. 3 in West
Hollywood, Calif., will span 3,000 square feet, far less than the 140,000
square feet of one of Nordstrom’s standard department stores.
It will contain eight dressing rooms, where shoppers can
try on clothes and accessories, though the store won’t stock them. Instead,
personal stylists will retrieve goods from nine Nordstrom locations in Los
Angeles, or through its website. The stylists can also pull together looks for
shoppers through a “style board” app.
“Shopping today may not always mean going to a store and
looking at a vast amount of inventory,” said Shea Jensen, Nordstrom’s senior
vice president of customer experience. “It can mean trusting an expert to pick
out a selection of items.”
In addition to manicures, Nordstrom Local shoppers will
be able to order wine, beer, coffee or juice from an in-store bar, and those
who place orders on Nordstrom.com by 2 p.m. can pick them up there that day.
They will also be able to return items at the store that they bought online or
from other Nordstrom locations. Tailors will be available for alterations or to
help members of Trunk Club, an online clothing service that Nordstrom acquired
in 2014, select fabrics for custom garments.
Other retailers have experimented with inventory-free
stores, including Bonobos, the men’s fashion brand bought by Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. over the summer. Stores such as Pirch, a purveyor of high-end home
appliances and decorative plumbing, have taken the experiential route, inviting
shoppers to bring bathing suits to test their $1,000 showerheads.
For the most part, however, the traditional retail store
hasn’t changed much over the years. One hindrance, according to Doug Stephens,
founder of the consulting firm Retail Prophet, is that Wall Street measures
success by sales per square foot and other metrics that are becoming outdated
in a world where shoppers still visit stores but increasingly make their
purchases online.
“The economic model has to change,” Mr. Stephens said.
Write to Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com
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