Nordstrom Outlet Malls

About Nordstrom

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Nordstrom is one of the country’s leading upscale fashion retailers. The store was originally founded in 1901 and quickly grew to encompass more than 250 stores in 34 states. Several additional stores are scheduled to open in the coming years including five stores that are slated to open in Canada by 2014. Another store is slated to open in New York City by 2018 marking the company’s first store to open there.

Nordstrom has been on the Fortune 500 list several times with its last ranking at 242 in 2012. The store has also been named to Fortune Magazine’s annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. It was listed at number 61 in 2012 in that category.

It’s All about the Designers and Major Brands at Nordstrom

Nordstrom features a great many up and coming as well as long established designers in its stores. Some of those designers include:

• Jimmy Choo
• Rag and Bone
• Burberry
• Marc Jacobs
• Michael Kors
• Dior
• Tory Burch
• Eileen Fisher
• Vince

Some designers have more than one line featured in the Nordstrom stores- with different target markets and different price points. The stores sell a wide range of items for men, women, juniors and kids. In addition to clothing, there are shoes, handbags and purses, accessories, beauty items. Party and gift items are also sold at the stores. Associates are able to help determine the most appropriate gift for virtually any occasion.

It’s Not Quite an Outlet, It’s the Nordstrom Rack

Many stores have sales that happen throughout the year. Nordstrom has only a handful of these major sales with each focusing on one or two of the departments at a time. Some items are marked down in individual stores for other reasons. Finally, there is another way to save some major money on the designer and brand name items that you would like to have for yourself and your family.

Other stores have outlets or factory stores that sell discontinued, out of season or over stock items at deeply discounted prices. Because Nordstrom is an upscale store, there is not an outlet, per se. Instead, the brand launched it’s off price division, which it dubbed “Nordstrom Rack”. The first of these stores opened in the basement of the Nordstrom store in Seattle, Washington in 1975. There are now nearly 50 Nordstrom Rack stores in almost 20 states in the US, each offering items at 50 to 75% off of their original price. Unlike other outlet stores, the Nordstrom Rack sells specific items in each of their locations. For instance, kids wear items are sold mainly in the Nordstrom Rack stores that are located in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, the North Town Mall in Washington and in San Francisco.

Not all of the Nordstrom Rack stores carry all brands, lines, sizes or styles. Plus or petite sizes are not carried in certain stores. Some stores only carry items for women or men. Some stores do not carry any accessories or non-clothing items because of limited space. What is sold may depend entirely on the available space as well as the demand of the area and is decided by corporate bigwigs after extensive market research.

The Free Personal Stylist at Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack

Most people have some idea of what they like and what works for their job and their body type, while others are completely clueless. Those people who are without a clue do have some help at both the Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores with the free personal stylist service. To make use of the personal stylist, you only have to contact the store (information and a link to contact the stylist is on the Nordstrom website). The stylist will answer your inquiry in 24 hours or less to ask you a few questions to help make the experience as successful as possible. Your personal tastes, sizes and what your shopping goals are will be only a few of the things the stylist will want to know. Other details, such as your time frame and your overall budget will be set once you have decided to set up an appointment.

At your appointment, the Nordstrom personal stylist will have several options set up for you in a dressing room so that you can try them on. From there, you will receive honest, expert advice about what does and what does not work. You can decide if you would like to make a purchase at this time or save the information (size, style, designer name and price) for a later purchase. You can choose to spend only a brief time with the personal stylist or an entire afternoon if you need to. In addition to shopping for yourself, you can use the services of the personal stylist to shop for friends or family, especially those who are hard to shop for.

Before your appointment, you can tell the Nordstrom personal stylist how much time and money you have to work with. Your budget is always your own- you do not have to spend a dime if you choose not to, even if you have spent the entire day in the dressing room.

In addition to the personal stylist, Nordstrom offers a beauty stylist as well as a wedding stylist.

Examples of What the Personal Stylist Might Suggest to You

Of course every stylist will have very different suggestions for their clientele. The needs of a businesswoman in Seattle, Washington may be very different from the needs of a woman across the country. These are some of the stylists’ picks:

• Aidan by Aidan Mattox Dress:  Metallic skater dress. Bronze, metallic fabric with simple styling and elegant lines.
• Tasha: Ornate Chandelier earrings, Crystal Chandelier earrings or Ornate Teardrop earrings. All three in ruby red.
• Natasha Couture “Deco” clutch purse. Small, elegant and unique.
• Ivanka Trump “Fresh” pump. In either black or burgundy with a gold ankle strap.
• Sam Edelman “Othello” pump. In taupe, silver or black with a pointy toe and a kitten heel.
• Robbi and Nikki Flared Coat: In red with black buttons, mid-thigh length, wide lapels and side slit pockets.