The Limited just bit the dust, and Macy's is closing 100 stores.
Nordstrom is much more selective in its locations for its FLS, so when one closes, like the two in Portland in early 2015, it's like trimming a bonsai tree, minor adjustments, cutting out a poorly-performing location or two that cannot justify renovation costs ("new carpets" as Blake would say).
Meanwhile, the march of new Racks continues, the off-price segment. I shop at the Rack.
What we haven't seen from Nordstrom is one of these hack and slash announcements, like we get from the Macy's and Sears and JCPenney's of the world. Nordstrom is better than those sad humps, I agree.
Which is more likely, an announcement with a large list of closing FLS -- at least 20 -- or some kind of breakup of the parent company into its respective divisions? Could the Racks survive on their own? How about Nordstrom.com? the FLS? Is any leg of the stool obviously weaker than the others, or are they all still part of a coherent single strategy? Are M&A jackals stalking the executives?
Do they adjust for the retail downturn (closing weak stores), do something more radical like this, or continue as they have? Is it that, whatever difficulties JWN has these days, the other companies are just so much worse at the retail game? Is their place in the high-end still good for them, because they aren't cast down with the Sodomites of Kohls, Wal*Mart, JCP, The Gap, Sears, and other losers.
Do they have more good ideas on tap, like the J.Crew partnership? Is 20 by 2020 still on track? Does anyone have a good assessment of the state of the company in January 2017?