Nordstrom to expand in Massachusetts.
Providence Journal (Providence, RI) February 17, 2006 Byline: Susan Kushner Resnick Feb. 17–Nordstrom Inc. yesterday announced plans to open three new stores in the Greater Boston area, meaning Providence will have more competition for shoppers in need of a Nordstrom fix.
The company signed letters of intent with mall owner Simon Property Group to open the stores at the Burlington Mall in Burlington, the North Shore Mall in Peabody and the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. The stores will open between 2008 and 2010, and will fill the space vacated by the closing of Filene’s stores.
Nordstrom was already planning to open a 144,000-square-foot store at the Natick Mall in the spring of next year.
South Shore Plaza, where a Nordstrom should open in 2009, is about a 45-minute drive from Providence.
Having many Nordstrom stores close together helps the company by familiarizing the public with the brand, said Nordstrom spokeswoman Brooke White.
She said the company sometimes sees an “immediate dip” in business when other Nordstroms open nearby, but nothing that will last.
“We don’t think it will have much effect on our Providence business in the long run at all,” she said.
White emphasized that the company is committed to the Providence Place store.
“We love it in Providence and we will continue to try to improve what we do there,” she said.
Providence’s Nordstrom has historically drawn shoppers from Massachusetts, but retail analysts don’t predict that the Nordstrom expansion will harm the Rhode Island store or the mall. site nordstrom promotion code
“I don’t think anyone is panicking or up in arms about it,” said Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation spokesman Andy Cutler. Nordstrom “would not be going into so many different area malls if they didn’t do their homework and know it would work for them.” The expansion shouldn’t weaken the local Nordstrom branch, according to Richard D. Hastings, a senior retail analyst for Bernard Sands of New York.
“Nordstrom has good experience with opening up stores close by,” he said. “There is little dilution.” That’s partly because each Nordstrom carries a limited amount of goods, Hastings said.
“Although the stores seem big, there is not a huge amount of inventory per store, so the option to open additional stores in densely populated areas works for them,” he said.
Different Nordstrom stores carry different products as well, according to retail analyst Pam Danzinger, president of Unity Marketing in Pennsylvania and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses — as Well as the Classes.
Danzinger said that neither Nordstrom nor Providence Place has anything to worry about from the new stores, because luxury shoppers aren’t necessarily concerned with getting in and out quickly.
“For people who shop for fun, travel is no issue,” she said.
She said shoppers worry about convenience when they’re looking for practical items, but the recreational shopper is a different breed.
People are also likely to keep coming to the Providence Nordstrom if they’re especially loyal to it, Danzinger said. She said she likes shopping in the Chicago Nordstrom more than in the one closer to her Pennsylvania home. go to web site nordstrom promotion code
Nora Ganim Barnes, professor of marketing at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, said mall patrons pick their particular shopping center based on the entire experience, not just one store. So even if Nordstrom brought them to Providence in the first place, they may continue to patronize the store because of the mall’s other features, such as good restaurants or the city atmosphere.
“Providence Place is a different kind of mall,” Barnes said. “It has a different feel to it.” She acknowledged, however, that if people already frequent the malls where the new Nordstroms are opening, they may stop coming to Providence. But she said she doesn’t think the majority of Providence Place Nordstrom shoppers come from distant Massachusetts locations.
“They’ve got a sustainable population here,” she said.
Anchor stores at the malls that are gaining Nordstroms have the most to worry about, Barnes said, because of Nordstrom’s strong reputation for unique merchandise and good service.
“With consumer confusion over Macy’s and Filene’s, it’s the perfect time for Nordstrom to step up,” Barnes said.
General Growth Properties Inc., which owns Providence Place, did not return repeated phone calls.
Nordstrom Inc. operates 155 stores in 27 states. Founded in 1901 as a shoe store in Seattle, Nordstrom has 98 Full-Line Stores, 49 Nordstrom Racks, 5 Faconnable boutiques, 1 freestanding shoe store and 2 clearance stores. Nordstrom also operates 32 international Faconnable boutiques in Europe. Nordstrom Inc. is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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