Nordstrom Experience

Originally Posted by FStyles

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You must be an impeccably dressed bloke! I always think that the SA's at Wilkes SF (not the PA one--can't stand the dude s there) are permanently fashionable. I'd pit Bill against the best here after 23 years at WB.



PA Bloomies has the roomiest floor of well stocked crap on the face of the planet. IMO that is and to each his own......but there is only so much full priced joseph abboud, PRL and hugo boss that I can take.




really? The DT SF one is the only place i had a shoe shine and it was the worst one I ever had incl the airport. Others have diff experiences?


LOL yea, I have to agree with you. But despite that, I did find myself spending more time at Bloomies than Nordies. wrt purchases...zilch. There was nothing worth it.

Originally Posted by Kempy

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If those Nordstrom SAs can afford a bunch of bespoke suits I may consider a change in career...

I think they are able to order made-to-measure and top designer suits directly from their vendor for a very steep discount. Pound-for-pound, I have never seen any national retailer with better-dressed male sales staff.

Originally Posted by MrDaniels

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Every Nordstrom suit department has at least one guy who dresses Soph/ Manton/ TC/ Vox-level. Be sure he is the one who helps you and you will never go wrong.


Yeah. That must be a great sales booster.

"My suit? Anderson Sheppard bespoke, and you are very kind to say so. Now about this Hugo Boss . . ."

Originally Posted by Kempy

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If those Nordstrom SAs can afford a bunch of bespoke suits I may consider a change in career...

The SAs here in Seattle/Bellevue have been nothing but friendly to me. I was looking at outerwear at a few of the different stores and asked up front if an item was going to be on sale after Christmas. One of the SAs checked and even offered to sell it to me at that price now (this was a week ago). I didn't feel as if they were pushy at all except I went mid-day on a weekday and it was fairly empty everywhere not just Nordys which meant I had every single SA ask me if I needed help. In the suiting section I even overheard one SA say to another "No, I already asked him if he needed help, leave him alone" when I was over looking at something.

The guy at the newly opened Brooks Bro Country store was FAR more obnoxious, every single time I stopped for a minute to look at something he'd magically pop up next to me and start telling me about the item. It got particularly irritating, but I understood as I was the only person in the store. Same goes for Neiman Marcus. Judging by SAs across the spectrum here, it seemed like there wasn't a whole lot of buying going on in the Seattle area.

I could swear a lot of those Bellevue NM SAs used to work at Nordstroms.
I know one of them used to work at Mario's.

The downtown Seattle Nordstrom SAs in general are great though.
The Bellevue suit guys are kind of used car salemanish though.

In my experience (My "home" Nordstrom also has a Nordstrom Rack across the street):

1. I see the suit salesmen at the Rack all the time; most get their suits there as the prices are better than their in-store discount (I've heard that from a couple of them)

2. Whether I'm looking at suits, shirts, shoes, whatever - invariably the salesman says "I have that exact one at home and I love it" (sometime they claim to have it in another color, and when it comes to shoes in multiple colors)

I went into Nordstrom's Rack once, and it seemed to be filled with tacky 20-something "street" clothing (jeans, T-shirts, hoods, etc). It was nothing like the regular Nordstrom's.

Originally Posted by calisanfran

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I did find myself spending more time at Bloomies than Nordies.
Same here.

Originally Posted by FStyles

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You must be an impeccably dressed bloke! I always think that the SA's at Wilkes SF (not the PA one--can't stand the dude s there) are permanently fashionable. I'd pit Bill against the best here after 23 years at WB.



PA Bloomies has the roomiest floor of well stocked crap on the face of the planet. IMO that is and to each his own......but there is only so much full priced joseph abboud, PRL and hugo boss that I can take.




really? The DT SF one is the only place i had a shoe shine and it was the worst one I ever had incl the airport. Others have diff experiences?

I am impeccably dressed. Except right now, I am wearing a World Cup '94 Sweatshirt,
Lucky Jeans held up by a woven leather belt, and Nike Pegasus 28s in 94E. However,
I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I find myself defending Nordstrom here all too often... Granted I worked there for almost four years during my college years... and I am in fact back at the Fashion Valley store for a few shifts helping a manger friend out right now for the holidays. I just graduated (July 09), so I am one of those douche bag college kids that louches' around, granted my douchebaggery is in RLPL and Charvet.

I do, however, very much know what I am talking about, but that is because I was self-motivated. I had a genuine interest in mens clothing - but also hated when a customer would approach me with a question I did not have an answer for... which led me to AAAC 4 years ago and Styleforum after that. I actually had customers deny my help because I was "too young" when I knew more about everything mens clothing/shoes/furnishings than any other salesperson on the floor.

My point is, Nordstrom fails to teach theirs SA's the details of their products. They provide the basics and that is all. To be fair, the Nordstrom demographic has fallen into middle class so the average customer has become less concerned with product knowledge and more concerned with either relative value or name recognition... Things many discerning customers care little about.

With my time with Nordstrom I have decided they lean on their 'customer service' far too much, because other retailers are quickly closing the gap in terms of service; good service is becoming the norm in this economy.

That said, in now working for a major corporation that prides itself on 'service', Nordstrom still blows it out of the water. Just saying.

Originally Posted by Twotone

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Denver's Nordstroms, Neiman Marcus and Saks are great places to shop, try on suits and get clothing ideas, but not to buy. I spend my money at Nordstrom's Rack, NM Last Call and Saks Off 5th saving at least 60% of MSRP. The only reputable and knowledgeable sales people here in Denver work at two independent shops -- Lawrence Covell and Andrisen Morton. High-priced clothes, but occasionally good sales.

Twotone

The bald SA in shoes at the Denver Nordstroms is a snob.

Lots of people have lots of money to spend at these stores and do not get insulted if a Salesperson wants to kiss their ass. It's always the same old story: people who think money means nothing, never had money in the first place.

The Nordstrom near my house has always been excellent. I consistantly have gotten good service, and every SA I have encountered has been nice and friendly, and not pushy about anything.

Everyone can't afford to pick up a 4 bespoke or RLPL suits to fill out their wardrobe, and I think Nordstrom offers some pretty solid suits and shirts at pretty OK prices. And if you find it cheaper online they'll match price with no questions asked, I've done it many times. And their return policy is also phenomenal, I've never had a problem returning anything.

Just out of curiousity, all you guys that don't like Nordys....where do you shop?

The chick that works in the men's tailored dept. at the Danvers, MA Rack is uber-snotty. I was trying to find a suit that fit me. She showed me a suit that was way too rich for my blood (I was recently unemployed). I told her it was too expensive. After that I had no taste in her eyes. The new Rack in Framingham isn't that bad (hopefully my girlfriend won't read this).

I'm fortunate to live fairly close to the flagship Nordstrom store in Seattle, and their salespeople aren't bad at all. Sometimes, they may not be super knowledgeable but they seem to be pretty genuine and aren't that pushy. Typically most sales people aren't going to know about canvassing or whatever in a suit, and I don't expect them to know because most people don't care so it has no real practical benefit for them. That said, their men's department is pretty good about it, and also their "Rail" section for casual stuff has some good salespeople too. Also, probably the best return policy of any department store.

My local nordstrom suit section is just horrible. Tons of Hugo Boss no italian stuffs and the old grandpa is ******* blind, im 38R~40R he recommend me 44R and said "For your first suit, you have to size up because it's more comfortable" WTF.