In 1901 John W. Nordstrom opened the first Nordstrom store in Seattle Washington. His approach to business was to “provide exceptional service, selection quality and value.” Nordstrom went public in 1971 and became recognized as the largest-volume fashion specialty store on the West Coast. In 1973 a clearance version of the store called Nordstrom Rack was opened in Seattle as well and by 1975 the company had expanded to Alaska and later on in 1988 the first store on the East Coast was opened in Virginia.

Nordstrom is in the services sector and in the apparel stores industry with about 73,500 full time employees, which specializes in apparel, shoes, cosmetics and accessories. It also owns and operates stores for shoes, accessories for men, women and children. The store has two segments that it operates through: Retail and Credit. The Retail segment includes full-line stores, off-price stores, clearance, and boutiques. Private label and brand name merchandise that is focused on shoes, cosmetics, accessories and apparel. Nordstrom’s Credit segments is the company’s wholly owned federal savings bank, called Nordstrom FSB in which is provides a private label credit card Nordstrom VISA debit cards and credit cards.

As of June 2015, the company has more than 115 Nordstrom department stores, 125 off-price outlet stores in 38 states and in Canada. It also operates a pair of Jeffrey luxury boutiques, a “Last Chance” clearance store, and has recently acquired the online private site HauteLook. Nordstrom also uses catalogs to make sales. The company also has a website: http://www.nordstrom.com.

While evaluating Nordstrom’s vulnerability to current financial threats such as a recession, it seems at though opening up more Nordstrom Rack’s has helped the company maintain a brand image, especially for bargain shoppers. “Nordstrom operates outlet operations in addition to department stores.” (moneywatch) This has proven to keep Nordstrom in the market with both regular prices and lowered prices to maintain a competitive advantage. According to Moneywatch “Recent financial results suggest that, in the recession, outlets may be giving shoppers who aren’t inclined to splurge at their favorite luxury department stores an alternative where they can shop and still fill financially responsible.” Since Nordstrom has survived the recession, it seems very stable for operation activities such as opening new stores and maintaining a customer base.