Nordstrom employees moved "about four hours worth" of shoes across the Alderwood Mall parking lot Wednesday night in preparation for this morning’s opening of the retailer’s newest store.
The new Nordstrom — with 33 percent more retail space and a host of new features including reorganized boutiques, a bistro, a shoe-shine stand and tens of thousands of designer shoes — opens at 9:30 this morning at the Lynnwood mall. Its opening marks the completion of the first stage of remodeling at Alderwood.
The new store will be noticeably different from the old, which closed Wednesday, said Bruce Bonnet, Nordstrom’s Alderwood manager.
"Our customers have been telling us they wanted something different," he said. "The old store layout was really an obstacle."
In the new store, departments are laid out in a more logical pattern, Bonnet said. The goal is to make it easier for shoppers, once they’ve found the clothes they want, to find shoes, accessories and cosmetics to match.
That means related departments will be closer together. Women’s apparel departments like St. John, Savvy and t.b.d. will be on the same floor, making it easier for shoppers — and the Nordstrom employees assisting them — to move back and forth.
The store also will have more boutiques within departments, he said. That includes a Nike shop in women’s active wear; a Salon Shoes boutique featuring designer footwear from Kate Spade, Anne Klein and others; a Tommy Bahama shop in the men’s sportswear department; and Faconnable boutiques, with European sportswear for both men and women.
The new store, at 144,000 square feet, is about 10 percent larger than the old one, which opened in 1979, Bonnet said. But thanks to an improved layout, there’s actually 33 percent more retail space available to house all the merchandise.
In addition, the layouts of the departments have been changed to open them up, he said. In the cosmetics department, for example, Nordstrom has done away with counters so shoppers can browse the merchandise.
The Alderwood store will be the first Nordstrom in the Northwest to have a bistro, a new restaurant concept for the chain, featuring pizza, pasta and salads. It too is designed to be more open, Bonnet said. "It has a very whimsical feel."
The store also will have family restrooms, an idea that’s "going to be really well received," he predicted.
The new store is the result of years of talking with customers about what they wanted in a Nordstrom store, Bonnet said.
"We spent a lot of time listening to our customers and responding," he said. "I think they’ll see that."
Reporter Bryan Corliss:
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