Nordstrom to Open a Non-Nodstrom Shop in SoHo
Nordstrom announced this week that it will open its very first Manhattan store next fall in SoHo.
Don’t get too excited yet – Nordstrom Spokesperson Pamela Lopez said a day after the announcement was made that the store will be a thrift shop and will not carry the Nordstrom name, nor will it be Nordstrom-branded. It will be owned by the fashion retailer, but will seem nothing like a typical Nordstrom store to shoppers.
That's not it's name. Nordstrom's Manhattan store won't actually be a Nordstrom
It looks like a lot of the details have yet to be worked out, but the 11,100 square feet of the first and second floors at 350 West Broadway (between Grand and Broome) have been leased to Nordstrom for a shop that donates all of its proceeds to nonprofit organizations. {Racked NY} Nordstrom has never opened a concept store like this before – and as far as we can tell, no other major fashion retailer has ever owned a charity shop.
Lopez told Racked NY the project is something Nordstrom wanted to try based on a general spirit of philanthropy.
Exactly what type of clothing the store will carry and to what charities the profits will go has yet to be decided, but apparently the shop will not even accept Nordstrom credit cards. {The Cut}
A lot of businesses have found great success with cause marketing – or promotions that entice consumers by donating a portion of profits for a particular item to charity – so perhaps Nordstrom is hoping customers will enjoy guilt-free shopping in their thrift store so much that they will stop by regular Nordstrom stores as well. This may backfire, however, if the Nordstrom brand is nowhere to be found in or on the West Broadway store, as less fashion-news conscious consumers may not even know they are in a Nordstrom-owned space.
Because Nordstrom will not be using its name for the store, the retailer may simply be undertaking a purely charitable initiative.
Whatever the folks at Nordstrom intend to accomplish with this new location, they certainly have our attention – especially since we never thought Nordstrom’s first Manhattan store would be anything other than a massive, long-awaited flagship. We’ll keep you posted as more details arrive.
