California Apparel News

Nordstrom Inc. is busy laying down plans for a new outlet store in Orange County while buying an e-commerce site that caters to men.

The Seattle-based retailer said it plans to open a Nordstrom Rack, its off-price concept, next year at The Center at Rancho Niguel in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

The store, which should be open in the spring, will occupy a 29,500-square-foot space once leased by Loehmann’s, which went bankrupt last year and reopened as an online store.

The new Nordstrom Rack will be down the street from a Nordstrom store at The Shops at Mission Viejo and become the seventh Nordstrom Rack in Orange County. Currently, there are six full-price Nordstrom department stores in Orange County.

The retailer has been aggressively rolling out Nordstrom Rack stores across the country. With merchandise selling for 30 percent to 70 percent off regular prices, it has been a popular shopping spot for families on a budget.

Nordstrom’s e-commerce sales have also been extremely robust, which is why the company announced it will be buying Trunk Club, an online personalized clothing service for men. The retailer did not say how much it was paying for the site, started five years ago in Chicago by Brian Spaly, who founded online men’s retailer Bonobos while a student at Stanford University.

The retailer said the men’s market is one of the fastest-growing sectors of retail, and Trunk Club aligns with Nordstrom’s priorities of giving super customer service, fashion, relevance and a seamless shopping experience. In 2011, Nordstrom purchased Los Angeles–based “flash sale” site HauteLook to branch out into the e-commerce world.

Trunk Club provides a free online stylist service with free shipping. Members keep what they want and send the rest back with a pre-paid shipping label.

“What Trunk Club is doing in the personal styling space is a natural extension of our core business,” said Erik Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct. “This acquisition is reflective of how we want to move quickly to evolve with customers by finding more ways to deliver a great shopping experience.”

Trunk Club will continue to operate independently and focus on its core business, Nordstrom said, while leveraging the retailer’s capabilities and resources to scale its business.