Dive Brief:

• In addition to a planned flagship store in New York City (to open in 2018) and a Rack store on Staten Island (to open later this year), Nordstrom is opening smaller store in the city that may be focused on menswear and shoes, according to reporting from Women’s Wear Daily and Fortune. The department store retail company already runs a Nordstrom Rack store in Union Square in Manhattan.

• The upscale department store will join several other upscale department stores in the area, Fortune notes. Neiman Marcus, which also owns Bergdorf, plans its own first New York City location in 2018, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys both plan to open second stores in Manhattan this year. The new Saks will also focus on menswear and Bergdorf already runs a mens-only store in the city.

• The report comes as Uber announced an expansion of its UberRush same-day retail delivery service, which will include Nordstrom. 

Dive Insight:

The real estate company working to fill new space anchored by the incoming Nordstrom flagship store at the Central Park Tower being developed at 225 W. 57th St. touts the department store’s arrival—a seven-level, 285,000 square foot store.

“Nordstrom’s entry into Manhattan is arguably one of retail’s most anticipated store openings,” Kelly Gedinsky of Winick Realty Group told the New York Post last year. “Shopping patterns will most certainly change as consumers are almost guaranteed to be driven to this section of the city.”

The retailers riding that wave appear to include Nordstrom itself, which now plans to open the smaller menswear store at nearby Columbus Circle.

Manhattan has long been a magnet for luxury retail, but it’s unclear how such plans will fare considering the fall-off in luxury sales due to the strong dollar. 

But Nordstrom has largely escaped the dim outlook for department stores in general, thanks to its upscale focus, reputation for stellar customer service, and its diversification thanks to its off-price Rack stores, booming e-commerce, and tech capabilities. 

“Nordstrom’s service proposition is still excellent,” retail futurist Doug Stephens told Retail Dive late last year. “The service is tremendous, the assortment is really good, they have good buying principals, and, at the same time, they’re technology savvy.”

But even Nordstrom experienced a rough Q3 that missed expectations. The company apparently expects its New York expansion to help mitigate that.

“We are thrilled to be able to add square footage to our footprint for our future store in Manhattan. We believe it will allow us to amplify our offering, helping us put our best foot forward in the best retail city in the world,” Nordstrom’s co-president Pete Nordstrom said in a statement.