Selling Shares

Nordstrom Inc. (Seattle) announced that the Elmer and Katharine Nordstrom Family Interests Limited Partnership has notified the Securities and Exchange Commission of its intention to sell up to 5.4 million shares of the fashion specialty retailer's common stock.

The partnership owns 8.2 million shares, which represents about 6 percent of Nordstrom's outstanding shares. The group is proposing to sell an additional portion of its holdings to diversify its financial assets.

John Nordstrom, a director of Nordstrom Inc., and James Nordstrom Jr., corporate merchandise manager, children's shoes, are the only members of the partnership active in the retailer's operations. The partnership has an additional 20 members of the extended Nordstrom family.

“As we've stated before, we want to be clear that this action by the partnership is an independent decision driven simply by the partnership's desire to diversify its financial assets,” says Bruce Nordstrom, chairman, Nordstrom Inc. “The Nordstrom Inc. management team is completely committed to the future success of Nordstrom Inc. We are encouraged by the progress we continue to make and by the positive response from our customers.”

Nordstrom operates 92 full-line stores, 49 Nordstrom Racks, five Faconnable boutiques, one freestanding shoe store and one clearance store in the U.S. The retailer also has 31 international Faconnable boutiques, primarily in Europe.