Nordstrom Inc. JWN said Tuesday it was closing its Nordstrom store and its Nordstrom Rack store in San Francisco as it made the “difficult decision” not to renew their leases. Nordstrom Rack’s last day will be July 1, and the company plans to close the Nordstrom store, which is inside a mall, by the end of August. “We’ve spent more than 35 years serving customers in downtown San Francisco,” Jamie Nordstrom, the company’s chief stores officer, said in a statement. “But as many of you know, the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.” Nordstrom will focus on its 16 Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company said. Nordstrom is “working with each impacted employee” to find new roles wherever possible. Shares of Nordstrom have dropped 45% in the past 12 months, compared with losses of around 1% for the S&P 500 index. SPX
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