Nordstrom Tries On a New Look: Stores Without Merchandise

Author: Suzanne Kapner
Outlet: The Wall Street Journal
Published: September 10, 2017
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Retail of the future may be more about experience than consumption. According to Suzanne Kapner of The Wall Street Journal, some stores will not even carry clothing:

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.

“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.”

According to Doug Stephens, founder of the consulting firm Retail Prophet, “Wall Street measures success by sales per square foot and other metrics that are becoming outdated in a world where shoppers still visit stores but increasingly make their purchases online.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”

Outdated malls and shopping centers will need to adapt to the changing retail climate. For additional information on Mall Retrofit concepts, check out this link to the Sprawl Repair Manual by Galina Tachieva.