Nordstrom takes off-price to The Last Frontier

Seattle--Nordstrom announced Wednesday that it is expanding its off-price Nordstrom Rack division into Anchorage, Alaska next year.

The new store will be approximately 35,000 square feet and is slated to open in the fall of 2015.

It will be located in midtown Anchorage at The Mall at Sears, which is owned by Sears Holdings Corp.’s Seritage Realty Trust division. As part of Seritage’s redevelopment, the Nordstrom Rack store will occupy a new single-level suite within a part of the Sears store.

Nordstrom has been in the city, which is Alaska’s largest, since it opened the first, and only, Nordstrom there in 1975. The new Rack, Anchorage’s first, will be located about two miles south of the full-line Nordstrom store.

“We are grateful for the nearly 40 years of business and support from our customers in Anchorage,” said Nordstrom Rack President Geevy Thomas. “We’re thrilled that an opportunity became available to bring a Rack store to this community and offer our customers an additional way to shop with our company.”

Nordstrom Rack carries merchandise from Nordstrom stores and Nordstrom.com, as well as specially purchased items from many of the top brands sold at Nordstrom. Of the company’s 262 stores currently in operation, 142 are Rack locations.

The company plans to open a total of 27 new Rack stores in 2014, as compared with only three full-line stores.

Many major retailers, both high-end and mid-tier, have been investing heavily in their off-price and outlet store segments in recent years.

Saks plans to open several more of its Off 5th stores in 2014, meaning that more than 60 percent of its 118 locations will be off-price stores by the end of the year.

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Among specialty jewelers, Signet Jewelers Ltd., operator of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, and Borsheims are also investing in their outlet segments. Signet purchased Ultra Diamonds, a chain consisting mainly of outlet stores, in 2012 while Omaha, Neb.-based Borsheims chose an outlet mall for its second location, which opened in November 2013.