Nordstrom Pulls Plans on Minnesota Store

Nordstrom Inc. (Seattle) has canceled plans to open a store at Ridgedale Center Mall (Minnetonka, Minn.), in 2011. Ridgedale is owned by General Growth Properties Inc., which recently announced that it has roughly $1.18 billion of past due debt. David Keating, a spokesman for General Growth, noted, however, that the Nordstrom delay had nothing to do with General Growth's financial problems. “We hope we can still move forward with the project in the future,” he says. “Nordstrom is a retailer we would love to have at Ridgedale.”

This week, Nordstrom Inc. reported fourth-quarter sales, ended Jan. 31, 2009, dropped 8.5 percent to $2.3 billion. However, the fourth-quarter earnings just beat analyst expectations, sending Nordstrom shares up more than 10 percent in after-hours trading.

The luxury specialty retailer says same-store sales in full-line stores in the fourth quarter decreased 15.8 percent. The company’s discount chain Nordstrom Rack saw same-store sales decrease 1.5 percent. Sales for Nordstrom Direct, the company’s online and catalog business, increased 9.7 percent.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, the Seattle-based company is also cutting 450 employees in positions from the vice president level on down and is reducing salaries. The company cited the tough business climate as reason for the cuts. For the 2009 fiscal year, Nordstrom says it expects same-store sales to decrease 10 to 15 percent.