Nordstrom, Saks Plan Off-Price Expansion

Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue are bullish on the future success of their off-price concepts.

Nordstrom (Seattle) plans to increase the number of Rack stores in the U.S. to 230 by 2016 from 148 currently, while Saks parent Hudson’s Bay Co. (Toronto) plans to double the size of Saks Off 5th over the next five years, opening about 70 stores to boost the count to 140, according to Women's Wear Daily.

The Rack did $2.7 billion in sales last year, a 12 percent increase, and is seen as one of the key growth vehicles for the company, said Pete Nordstrom, evp of merchandising at Nordstrom, speaking Thursday at the first annual Symposium on Omni Retailing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York. “We’re opening three, four and five Rack stores in one day,” he told WWD.

HBC previously said it would open up to 25 Saks Off 5th outlets in Canada, along with seven full-line Saks stores. The plans for Off 5th would add another 45 stores to the concept in the U.S., said Richard Baker, HBC’s governor and ceo, reports WWD.

Baker said he expects the new template for Off 5th to represent a significant departure from the existing one, with stores larger than the average of 30,000 square feet for the 72 existing stores in the U.S.