New Nordstrom Announced for O.C.
Nordstrom Inc. has signed a letter of intent with The Irvine Company to open a 138,000-square-foot Nordstrom store at the Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach, Calif., in Spring 2010.
The Fashion Island Nordstrom will be the Seattle-based retailer’s sixth full-line store in Orange County. It will be located only six miles away from South Coast Plaza, which is the home of the Nordstrom store that the company says has the highest sales volume in the company’s 156-store chain.
A Nordstrom representative said that the Fashion Island store will not cannibalize sales from its neighboring Nordstroms. “There’s enough business to justify us coming to Fashion Island,” said spokesperson Michael Boyd. The Fashion Island location will feature the retailer’s latest design concepts.
While Orange County already is the address of many Nordstrom stores, retail analyst George Whalin said that building a new one at the high-profile Fashion Island was a good move.
The wealthy consumers of Orange County do not want to all shop at the same luxury mall, he said. There is a good chance that they will embrace a new, convenient shopping choice. It might be especially popular with Newport Beach shoppers who may not want to travel to the frequently busy South Coast Plaza. Whalin is the president of Retail Management Consultants in San Marcos, Calif.
Fashion Island is the home of high-profile retailers Neiman Marcus, American Rag, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. It ought to benefit from the addition from a new Nordstrom, said Shaheen Sadeghi, the owner of specialty shopping centers The Lab and The Camp, both located in Costa Mesa, Calif.
However, he worried that Nordstrom might start losing its sense of exclusivity with each location that it builds. “Orange County demographics will support the new store,” he said. “But Nordstrom must look at the long term. It could turn out to be another Macy’s, where all of their stores are next to each other.” Nordstrom will open eight stores in 2008, six stores in 2009 and six more stores in 2010, according to Boyd.
The Fashion Island Nordstrom will be constructed in the southern section of the center, across from men’s retailer Gary’s, in a space that was formerly occupied by a Macy’s women’s store, which was demolished in June 2007. The Nordstrom building will be built from scratch. Construction will begin in fall of 2009, according to Keith Eyrich, president of The Irvine Company Retail Properties.
—Andrew Asch
