Spokane Store Won’T Be Scaled-Down Version Of Seattle’S

New Nordstrom stores, opening just a year apart in Seattle and Spokane, will offer shoppers in both cities dramatic improvements over the stores they replace.

However, not everything offered in the flagship Seattle store will be duplicated here.

The new downtown Seattle flagship store is the Nordstrom chain’s largest, occupying 380,000 square feet on five stories of the renovated 1918-vintage Frederick & Nelson building.

The new three-story Spokane Nordstrom will occupy 137,000 square feet - 16,000 more square feet than the current store, located for 24 years in a renovated J.C. Penney site. “Spokane will be a dramatic improvement architecturally,” said company spokeswoman Brooke White. “It will be much more convenient to shop, much more convenient to the customer.”

Many design elements common to all Nordstroms will be used in Spokane, from the central escalator to the wide open floors to the lobby piano, she said.

White also said that with the extra space, the store will carry a bit better selection of apparel. But it won’t try to duplicate Seattle, which includes some couture lines of fashion.

“You will have a selection unique to Spokane,” White said. “Our buyers really try to stay true with the customers from each community.”

Seattle employs a new strategy called “open sales” to display its cosmetics, where items are arranged by colors, not brands, and are not beneath glass cases. Spokane will use a more traditional display and sales model.

And the Seattle store will have a grill and state-of-the-art spa, which the Spokane store will not have.