Less than six years after opening its store at Ala Moana Center, Nordstrom Inc. announced Monday it is moving to another location in the mall.
The Seattle-based department store chain will vacate its current 211,000-square-foot store fronting Kapiolani Boulevard in the spring of 2016 and move to a 186,000-square-foot space under construction in the former Sears parking lot on Piikoi Street.
The relocation is part of Ala Moana’s $572.4 million development project at the Ewa end of the mall. The existing Nordstrom store will continue to do business until the opening of the new location.
"We love our location there and business has been good, and that’s why we’re wanting to move. It does quite well for us," said Brooke White, a Nordstrom spokeswoman based in Seattle. White said the new location, which is 25,000 square feet smaller, will have about the same size for retail sales operations.
"Our investment here in moving the store is a signal that we believe in our business in Hawaii," White said.
Roughly every 10 years, Nordstrom remodels its stores, so the company would have been investing in renovations around 2016 anyway, she said. Nordstrom opened its current store in March 2008.
"It’s basically a wash for us to move with the kind of significant remodel that we do," White said. "When we looked at the cost of remodeling versus the cost of investing in a new building and being able to design exactly the way we wanted with our newest design concept, it was cost-effective to make the move now."
Mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. said relocating one of its largest anchor tenants is part of an ongoing strategy to evolve as a shopping destination.
"Nordstrom’s presence in the newly developed Ewa Wing will create a nice synergy at the property," said Francis Cofran, the mall’s general manager.
General Growth previously announced that famed New York retailer Bloomingdale’s has taken one of the two anchor spots and will open its first Hawaii store when the mall addition is finished in November 2015.
White said Ala Moana plans to redevelop the existing Nordstrom space for smaller retailers, though Ala Moana didn’t disclose who will move into the space once the retailer relocates.
Mark Storfer, chairman of Retail Merchants of Hawaii, said that several national supermarkets, including Whole Foods, are vying for the ground-level space under the new Nordstrom site. Ala Moana Center wouldn’t confirm any new tenants at this time.
"We love being a part of Ala Moana Center and think this opportunity to bring a brand new store by relocating on the property is terrific for customers," Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom, said in a news release. "Ala Moana is pretty special to us. We opened in Honolulu nearly 48 years ago leasing space and running the shoe departments in Liberty House stores."
Nordstrom has more than 400 employees who will continue at the new location.
Nordstrom operates 260 stores in 35 states. Its Nordstrom Rack location, which opened in 2000 at Ward Village Shops, was relocated about a block away in November.
"It’s an interesting move for Ala Moana," said Jeff Arce, a partner at The MacNaughton Group. "It gives them some good flexibility to do some pretty cool things where Nordstrom was. Whether it’s one tenant or three tenants — one per floor — I would trust by the time they’re done, (mall owner) General Growth is going to have a better mall because of it."
