Last night I had the immense pleasure of getting a preview of the new Vancouver Nordstrom store at Pacific Centre and I was so blown away. If you are local you must check it out! A lovely reader of this blog is manager at the Active & Swim Department and she extended an invitation to me for the friends and family shopping event before the Grand Opening which is this Friday. I actually got a tour of the department and was shown all the different brands they carry and some of the plans they have and was so amazed by it all. I really think the local Lululemon market is in trouble and will take a hit. Especially amongst the downtown professionals that workout on their lunchbreaks downtown. There are many brands I’ve been very curious about but never got the opportunity to see in person in Vancouver or even at the Seattle Nordstrom so I’m excited to explore them now. This Vancouver Nordstrom store has the largest activewear department of the entire chain and that will integrate active shoes in the department! They are also the only Nordstrom store with a full swim cabana with the entire swim line available in one store. Many of the brands they carry are not even on the Nordstrom website yet! They have a huge amount of real estate on the third floor and they are filling it right up. It’s so funny but they obviously really researched and understood their market with this department and know how close to our hearts Vancouver keeps it’s activewear. More importantly, Vancouver really appreciates the transitional fashion forward activewear. This department is every single coordinating color of Nike Running shoe you could ever desire.
The bonus of being a shopper of this particular Nordstrom is that they will deliver to you in under two hours within the downtown core. If you work downtown, or have a spouse downtown you can order by calling up this store and have your items to you by end of day! This will be amazing if you workout on your lunch hour but forgot your gym gear at home! If you need a contact in the Active & Swim department, contact Ashley. She is amazing and will take care of you.
A few of the brands that are coming soon but are not yet in store are Stella McCartney, more Rebecca Minkoff Active, Nanette Lepore Swim, More Lole, more Lorna Jane. I was so excited to see Lole because it’s not super available in Vancouver (although they do have a Whistler store) and especially excited about Lorna Jane since we do not have that brand available here at all anywhere else (yet!). These are my bucket list brands that I’ve so been wanting to explore but have just not been readily available in Vancouver!
I did some research on price points on various items and made sure to check these items yesterday and the pricing is on par with what the US prices are, and more importantly, on par with local competitors (Holt Renfrew/The Bay/Sephora). I found many cosmetic items at Nordstrom last night that have not yet made it to Canada. For example, I’m a big fan of Drybar which I always buy in Sephora when we go to Seattle (and get ripped off by the exchange rate) but Sephora Canada will not carry that brand – Nordstrom Vancouver now provides it to me in Canadian pricing!
I hope you enjoy Nordstrom as much as I do because I will definitely be featuring a lot of try ons and reviews from this store (including cosmetics and none activewear things) and will make it a big part of this blog. Let me know your thoughts on that in the comments.
Nordstrom Active & Swim Department
I really loved the displays and the visual merchandising of this department. I love that they get almost an entire floor (shared with the men’s shoes) and will integrate running shoes with the clothes.
This beautiful display of Rebecca Minkoff caught my eye. They had another large display of Rebecca Minkoff Handbags downstairs as well as a big display of MZ Wallace bags which was a bigger display then the one in Seattle. All of the prices (I did pricing research) was pretty much on par with US prices.
I loved this vest! I almost brought it home but then put it back because I had already purchased a down vest this year. I’m really considering going back for it though.
I was so surprised to see this brand here. You cannot find this in Vancouver anywhere else.
This was a very beautiful display. I can’t wait to go back and try these on.
yay! Lorna Jane! I know Seattle just got a LJ store but I haven’t had a chance to go check it out since our dollar is so low.
There was so much Zella! I think everything that is online and in every color was available yesterday.
Zella has these knit tees that look a lot like Lululemon Swiftly SS’s.
Really great outerwear selection!
Maaji Swimwear is one of the brands I’ve always wanted to try since I heard about the brand about 3 years ago. Gorgeous prints!
This was a specialty display at the store. Proenza Schouler swimwear which I believe I was told no other Nordstrom stores have.
Lots of Ted Baker pieces!
Huge display of Nike running shoes downstairs which will eventually be upstairs in activewear. I ended up buying a new pair of Nike Pegasus 32’s in grey and black (on the right side of this picture).
Downstairs they had a big display of Sorels. I’ve been eyeing this wedge style sorel since last year and I was excited to see they carried every single colorway. I’m toying with getting the middle pair in grey (all leather) because although we do not get a lot of snow here, these are waterproof and perfect rain boots. They also had a really healthy display of Frye Boots.
