First flagship Nordstrom New York - The first Nordstrom New York flagship, seven years in development, is finally opening, but times have changed

On Thursday, New York's competitive luxury retail market will be filled even more. The exclusive Nordstrom department store chain will finally fulfill its decades-long dream of opening its first flagship in Manhattan.

A lot is flowing in the 3,000,000-square-foot seven-story store two blocks south of Central Park and in front of its much smaller men's store, which opened last year. Nordstrom, which has opened Nordstrom Local's online pick-up and drop-off convenience centers and two Nordstrom Rack out-of-priced outlets in the city, has designed New York, where the Seattle-based retailer and you get your biggest online sales, as a "$ 700 million-plus" opportunity.

First flagship Nordstrom New York

With Los Angeles, the two combined cities will add more than 25% of Nordstrom's full-price deal, the company said.

But earning those sales will not be easy. Nordstrom, once the highest-performing in the industry, had sales of $ 15.5 billion last year, but this year it has published comparable comparable sales in both its full-price stores and the Nordstrom Rack. In the seven years since it announced the plan to launch a Manhattan flagship, its shares have plummeted by about 30% as the entire department store struggles to become relevant.

While it's easy to blame Amazon, studies have shown that departmental stores lost track of people like TJX without frills, T.J.'s father. Maxx and Marshalls. In fact, Nordstrom's new flagship is right in front of a T.J. Maxx reopened on Tuesday with an additional sales floor.

"Consumers identify TJX much more closely with" value for money "than their full-price rivals," said UBS analyst Jay Sole in a September report. "Last year, we thought department stores could reduce their stock loss rate. We now have less conviction in this view."

The expensive Nordstrom flagship is also opening after rival Neiman Marcus has entered New York with a flagship, and existing Saks players, Macy 'if Bloomingdale' have made major makeover at their stores. In the meantime, Barneys New York's recent bankruptcy filing and the January closure of Lord & Taylor's Fifth Avenue storefront have served as a sobering reminder of the continuing challenges that department store faces.

Department store sales have fallen 4.8% in the first nine months of this year, the worst performing segment, in contrast to a 3.4% increase in the entire retail and service industry. food, according to the Department of Commerce.

This followed a gust of fall for the segment in each of the last five years, compared to earnings for the EE retail industry. UU., According to Euromonitor data

Nordstrom is not blind to these changes in the market.

On the flagship, at the bottom of New York's tallest residential tower, are obvious signs of Nordstrom's attempt to respond to the new retail playbook and accommodate the change in buying behavior.

As with the other architectural retailers' new design spirit, the store features an open floor plan with many windows that let in natural light. Gone are the hard walls traditionally divided by different brand stores, replaced by one executive described as "mesh walls" meant to make "younger customers more comfortable."

Attempts to attract younger customers spread throughout the store. For example, one section showing Burberry had graffiti on the windows. The nod to the popular athleisure trend was spotted at footwear shows from Versace to Gucci and a specialty Nike shoe store paired with many designer fashions.

Everlane online clothing brand, headquartered in "ethical factories", will head the shop's rotary pop-up shop this month, while Dirty Lemon's text-vending machine to buy, which sells infused beverages. collagen, can be found in beauty. service floor.

Trunk Club, a personal stylist's clothing box service purchased by Nordstrom, also first establishes a shop inside a regular Nordstrom store, although it also has a separate store in the city.

Like Neiman Marcus, the flagship from Nordstrom in New York has the largest supply of food and beverages in the chain. Among the seven options are four full-service restaurants, a gluten-free mochi donut shop and a cocktail bar for the first time in the center of Nordstrom's shoe section for customers to grab their drinks while shopping.

"As the retail landscape changes, it's about experience," said Vincent Rossetti, Nordstrom's vice president of restaurant operations, on a tour of the store. Food is "an important driver of traffic."

How significant? One in four transactions at Nordstrom are made through the company's food service offerings, he said.