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Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by kylehotchkiss on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:22PM (#42496454)
I hope this doesn't change Nordstrom too much. One of the last department stores worth stopping into. JC Penny and Macys feel so run down (and I'm talking a nice Southern California mall, not one somewhere in the middle of the country). Bloomingdales is nice too, but they don't seem like they'll have the same staying power.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by dagmx on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:17PM (#42496876)
I hope this actually does change Nordstrom because their corporate direction has been terrible over the last few years while trying to maximize shareholder value.

They’ve closed all Canadian operations, despite their Vancouver store being one of their highest earning stores in North America. They’ve closed several west coast stores in the US as well, citing crime but insiders had said it was because they want to move into lower cost areas instead.

Basically they’re trying to move into the market that JC Penny and Macy are leaving open, which has been slowly making Nordstrom itself much lower quality as a shopping experience.

Over the last few years they’ve turned their shopping experience into more of a dumping ground of random clutter

Perhaps going private will let them focus on treating their experience as part of the product.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by cogman10 on Monday December 23, 2024 @05:59PM (#42498290)
The retail death spiral.

Sales are down, so they cut costs by cutting staff and presentation. That ultimately turns the store into a warehouse of goods which in turn discourages shopping further. With that decline they often resort into cutting store operating hours which further kills off shopping.

One of my local malls is open from like 11am to 6pm on the weekdays and 8pm on the weekends. Even if I wanted to shop there, it's hard because they are closed during normal work hours. The shops and stores are all manned with a skeleton crew. I've seen Macy's have a single employee manning the entire store.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by stuckindoors on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @11:02AM (#42502755)
When companies go public - it’s no longer about running the store/company well or efficiently. It is an extractive process as much as possible at least in the last 20 years. Public companies think quarter to quarter and no longer think long term. Only smaller private companies are able to invest in the long run and invest in the future. The only group of public companies are that can swim against this tide are the tech darling like intel, apple, Microsoft, google.

I worry that the corporate quarter to quarter mentality is ruining American corporation that is taking American capitalism to a new low.

Maybe Nordstrom has a chance if they are private in the long run.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by luckman212 on Wednesday December 25, 2024 @05:13PM (#42511527)
> "tech darling like intel"

I guess you haven't looked at INTC stock price recently? As of yesterday's close on 2024-12-23 it's essentially unchanged from where it was 30 years ago. If you factor in inflation (which you should) it's actually lost 50% of its value over that time period.

Apple, Microsoft and Google are different animals.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by buildsjets on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:58PM (#42496735)
As a male with absolutely no fashion sense but an occasional need to look presentable, I’ve always appreciated that you can get a free appointment with a personal stylist to help select your wardrobe. The cost is of course baked into the price of the clothing, but it is going to be quality stuff that lasts for a long time and be comfortable.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by kylehotchkiss on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:41PM (#42497036)
This is some really solid advice, thanks Buildsjets. I'm gonna give this a try sometime.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by jeffbee on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:02PM (#42496764)
Saks used to have a men's store in San Francisco where you could just get a guy to dress you. Barney's men's department was good, too. Unfortunately these are long gone. There is an overall lack of places for a man to buy clothes in American cities. I've noticed when I am abroad there seem to be more.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by skyyler on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:17PM (#42496883)
Heimie's Haberdashery in Saint Paul still offers this sort of personal styling, and they offer tailoring as well. Definitely worth a stop if you're in the Twin Cities.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by Arrath on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @04:21PM (#42505016)
Likewise, John Helmer Haberdashery in Portland, OR
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by chokolad on Monday December 23, 2024 @04:33PM (#42497787)
Bonobos has guide stores with stylists in them. If you need that kind of clothing it can work out pretty well. It's a completely different price range to Saks though.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by ghaff on Monday December 23, 2024 @08:15PM (#42498922)
I'm a bit skeptical that a department store was ever a great option for that, Maybe once upon a time. Aside from a one shop tailor, I'd look to small chains oriented around men's clothing like J Banks, J Press, and so forth at this point.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by yunohn on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @10:25AM (#42502473)
> I've noticed when I am abroad there seem to be more.

My experience in Europe has been that the men’s clothing department is, at most, 20% of the store space. Alongside multiple floors dedicated to women’s clothing.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by gautamcgoel on Monday December 23, 2024 @06:05PM (#42498320)
Seconded, the stylists really take care of you.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by Marsymars on Monday December 23, 2024 @06:43PM (#42498490)
An underappreciated upside of having a partner with fashion sense.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by kylehotchkiss on Monday December 23, 2024 @07:15PM (#42498628)
we need a Nordstrom rep with fashion sense to help us acquire a partner with fashion sense (also sometimes the partner with fashion sense thinks flashy branded things are handsome instead of marine layer clothes)
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by daft_pink on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:25PM (#42496481)
I think it’s a positive. Generally the founders are more customer friendly/focused than CEO’s chasing constant revenue/profit growth.

Hard to imagine such a customer friendly company drastically changing when the founders retake control.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by Eric_WVGG on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:34PM (#42496558)
Seemed to work pretty well for Dell Computer.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by kevin_thibedeau on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:39PM (#42497021)
The Walton family disproves that theory.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by TylerE on Monday December 23, 2024 @07:44PM (#42498778)
Does it? Remember when Walmart sold made in the USA products exclusively? Hint: It was before Sam Walton died.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by kevin_thibedeau on Monday December 23, 2024 @09:10PM (#42499152)
That is the point. The heirs have ruined the business by pissing on the founder's grave.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by daft_pink on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @04:24AM (#42500729)
I don’t think you’d see them taking Walmart private and putting their money on the line to improve the business.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by imzadi on Monday December 23, 2024 @03:22PM (#42497295)
I worked at Nordstrom for 8 years, first in customer service, then in IT, then in engineering. I think this is a good move. The Nordstrom family cared a lot about the brand and the customers, the shareholders didn't. Things were really going downhill when I left. I hope they can get the boat righted.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by legitster on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:39PM (#42496611)
Nordstrom played really smart - they didn't overexpand or cheap out their brand.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by ciabattabread on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:59PM (#42496739)
They had the failed Canada expansion, but they smelled like roses compared to the crash and burn of Target Canada.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by bpye on Monday December 23, 2024 @04:09PM (#42497633)
It’s unfortunate. As mentioned elsewhere, the Vancouver store was one of their most profitable (overall) but the rest were not - and I guess sustaining operations in another country for one store doesn’t work out.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by transcriptase on Monday December 23, 2024 @05:31PM (#42498127)
6 months after the grand opening the east coast locations looked as if they were being liquidated not ramping up. To hide the fact that they couldn’t get the inventory mix they needed the staff were spacing out what little they did have. E.g. An entire aisle of king sized duvets with huge empty gaps, and no twin or queen sized to be found.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by transcriptase on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:20PM (#42496906)
On top of the hilariously mismanaged rollout and botched logistics/inventory system, Target thought that Canadians would pay $19 for a $5 tee when the exchange rate was ~1.04.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by Aloha on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:30PM (#42496530)
We have one of the new concept Penny's here in Hurst Texas, and its amazing, the store is very well merchandised, clean and well lit.

They're supposedly rolling them out nationwide - JCP does gamify shopping in a way that almost makes it fun.

https://fortworth.culturemap.com/news/fashion/11-01-19-j-c-p...

https://www.jcpenney.com/m/hurst-store-page

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by conductr on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:53PM (#42497111)
I happen to have some inside knowledge, this was a concept store created for a specific marketing campaign and no intention of this being rolled out further to their stores. The store/campaign itself was like three waves of executives ago at this point and will likely never be more than this single store. They were experimenting with box in a box but have mostly lost those partnerships too, the Sephora partnership was largely seen as beneficial to Sephora more than JCP.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by Aloha on Monday December 23, 2024 @07:23PM (#42498656)
Thats really too bad, it makes shopping so pleasant.

I know Penny's has opened new stores, it looks like they learned the right lessons from this store though, better merchandising, more lighting, etc.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by wombat-man on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:08PM (#42496811)
That's good. For nostalgia reasons I shop at the mall around the holidays. JCP seems to be marching right behind the SEARS that is no longer there.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by r00fus on Monday December 23, 2024 @02:01PM (#42496757)
This sounds really interesting - they've decided to make their new stores a place to visit not just to shop but as a place to learn (clearly leading to more shopping).

Stores used to rely on other mall properties to do the 2nd part but as the concept of the Mall starts fading, they need to start doing this themselves.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by kylehotchkiss on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:33PM (#42496554)
WOW do I love their new logo. This all seems really well thought out. Glad they're doing the hard work to step out of the 90s!
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by jjeaff on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @05:45PM (#42505491)
which one, I searched and found several iterations that are supposedly "new"
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by jerlam on Monday December 23, 2024 @07:38PM (#42498743)
Wow, it's like an Apple store but it opened six years after JCP fired the CEO they headhunted from Apple retail. And the CEO mentioned in the article has already been replaced.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by AzzieElbab on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:39PM (#42496606)
I used to grab coffee in Toronto's Nordstrom cafe. The store was positioned so that you had to cross it after getting out of the subway on your way to other stores and offices—as prime of a location as it gets. It still got tanked by the rent
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by mywittyname on Monday December 23, 2024 @01:40PM (#42496614)
My local Macy's is pretty nice, so I shop there pretty regularly. It's in the middle of the country, but it's also located in a relatively affluent area and attached to a mall that's still doing quite well.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by game_the0ry on Monday December 23, 2024 @06:30PM (#42498436)
Me too. Have to say -- I am not a big retail shopper, but my experiences at Nordstrom has been the best I have ever been too, including Apple store.

I bought the suit that I wore to my wedding form Nordstrom. The sales associate that helped me out did a fantastic job.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by jedberg on Monday December 23, 2024 @06:40PM (#42498476)
> and I'm talking a nice Southern California mall, not one somewhere in the middle of the country

You do realize that all the best maintained malls are in the middle of the country right? :)

Mall of America is about as middle as it gets.

Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by mrobins on Monday December 23, 2024 @07:21PM (#42498651)
Respectfully disagree. I feel like quality and selection at most Nordstroms I’ve been to recently has been much worse. Salespeople have been less knowledgeable and more pushy. Feels like they’ve moved from upmarket into a space more easily replaced by lower cost online competitors.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by bdcravens on Monday December 23, 2024 @08:30PM (#42498968)
Dillards isn't bad, and at least seems to have a better selection than Macy's. They are a bit pushy in terms of sales though, and they don't seem to do a good job at customizing their selection regionally (the amount of winter coats and thick sweaters I've seen at Dillard's is absolutely comical for Houston locations)
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by geor9e on Monday December 23, 2024 @08:31PM (#42498975)
I mean, of course Nordstroms feels less run down than JC Penny. Everything costs 10x.
Re:Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal by mindslight on Monday December 23, 2024 @10:29PM (#42499522)
> and I'm talking a nice Southern California mall, not one somewhere in the middle of the country

This isn't the bound you seem to think it is. SoCal is quite wealthy, but the workers aren't exactly motivated or caring. I remember going keyboard shopping at Fry's well before any talk of bankruptcy and the whole aisle was basically a pile of scattered keycaps and nearly-empty keyboards. And I was just in a Macy's the other day (not in SoCal), and actually remarked how nice the store was set up compared to everywhere else going down hill. So as usual, YMMV.