LYNNWOOD – The cheerleaders, marching band and tailgate party were outside. A crowd of singing, cheering – and stylishly dressed – employees staged a pep rally inside.
Friday’s grand opening of Nordstrom’s new Alderwood Mall store had more than a few trappings of a fall football game, and even the man calling the plays – company chairman Bruce Nordstrom – admitted to a few pre-game jitters.
But Friday’s butterflies were nothing compared to the stomach-churning that went on when the retailer first came to Lynnwood to open its first store in 1979 in the then-new Alderwood Mall, Nordstrom said.
“I remember being very nervous,” he said. “I’m nervous today, but I was even more nervous then. … ‘79 was more of a roll of the dice.”
For most people, Friday’s opening was all about fun and fashion.
“Today is for the shop-aholics,” said shopper Rachel Tobin of Lynnwood.
It was also a “great day for the troops,” the employees who had made things work in the old store for years, Bruce Nordstrom said.
Several shoppers said they’d laid plans to attend the event weeks – even months – in advance.
Cubby Smith and her daughter Kristen Sherlock of Bothell were the first people through the door at the store’s north side. They said they’d been plotting for six months to ensure they were at the head of the line. They were prepared to camp out overnight, but didn’t, since nobody else was.
They came back at 7 a.m., and when the doors opened, they rushed in grinning to smiles and high-fives from store staffers.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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