Nordstrom Expands to Canada

Nordstrom (Seattle) plans to open its first Canadian store in Calgary in fall 2014, according to the Financial Post (business.financialpost.com). The retailer has already sent a recruiter “into the market early” to find potential employees and participate in some speaking engagements. Other planned store locations include Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver; while tentative plans for 8-10 future locations are in the works. Upward of 20 Nordstrom Rack concept stores are also slated to open in the near future.

Handling customer resistance to the pricing difference between the U.S. and Canada on the same goods will be one of the retailer’s biggest challenges; something both Target and J. Crew faced when opening locales in the country, according to the Financial Post.

The Financial Post reports that Karen McKibbin, president of Nordstrom Canada, spoke at the Retail Council of Canada’s Store 2013 conference last Wednesday and told the crowd that the pricing issue “is top of mind for Canadians, which makes it very important for us … It appears there will be some differences on certain products – taxes, duties and other factors. We are going to do everything we can to minimize that and I don’t want you to think that’s lip service. We are really hard at work at this problem now.”