Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
It's hard to imagine Saks opening an Off 5th next to one of its Post Street stores, or Neiman Marcus announcing Last Call on Geary, but Nordstrom has no problem welcoming its cheap(er) little sister to Market Street next year. According to Women's Wear Daily, the full-line store doesn't feel threatened by the more-affordable Nordstrom Rack because the "off-price concept" started 40 years ago in the basement of Nordstrom's downtown Seattle flagship."
Earlier this year, we mentioned rumors that developers were trying to lure Nordstrom Rack to anchor Market Street Place. That dream never materialized. WWD reports that Rack will open at Fifth and Market in spring 2014 next door to the brand's Westfield San Francisco Shopping Centre location.
Nordstrom announced in April that the new Rack will be a 45,500-square-foot space at 901 Market Street. According to the San Francisco Business Times, the store will "occupy a portion of the ground floor and entire second floor."
Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson told WWD that the company looks for "terrific shopping centers with a lot of traffic." It sounds like the company nailed its high-traffic goal with this location: 901 Market sits in front of the Powell Street Muni station, with BART, buses, cable cars and the F-line street car nearby. Now it's merely an issue of getting customers through the door as they scurry across town. —Robyn Hagan Cain
· Nordstrom's Big Plans for Expansion of Rack [WWD]
· Landlords Vying for Nordstrom Rack's Love on Market Street [Racked]