10 BCBusiness SEPTEMBER 2015 PoRTRaiT: adaM BlaSBERg
We don't typically cover the comings and
goings of retailers at BCBusiness—there are too
many changes to chronicle, and for the most
part the story is often too hyperlocal (the
arrival of a women's clothing store on Main
Street) or too broad (the coming, then going,
of Target—a colossal national failure in which
B.C. played but a part).
The arrival of Nordstrom—a Seattle-based
retailer set to open its doors at Robson and
Howe this month—is different. The upscale
chain is occupying what is arguably the most
valuable real estate in Vancouver: an iconic
block, across from the art gallery, whose
transformation is reviving a forgotten part of
the downtown core. But more than just physi-
cal transformation, Nordstrom also promises
a marked shift in how high-end retail is done
in Vancouver—and indeed, in the province.
Nordstrom has made a name for itself in
customer service; its reputation has even
spawned a book, The Nordstrom Way to Cus-
tomer Service Excellence: The Handbook For
Becoming the "Nordstrom" of Your Industry.
Key to its success has been unrelent-
ing attention to detail—everything
from showing, not pointing, custom-
ers in the right direction to ringing
in purchases before customers even
reach the cash register. But ultimately,
as Jamie Nordstrom (great-grandson of
company founder John Nordstrom)
tells BCBusiness editor Felicity Stone
in "Retail Showdown" (p.56), the bot-
tom line is just making customers
happy: "Whether it's food and drink
experiences or unique merchandise
that you're not going to find anywhere
else in the city in addition to great ser-
vice, we want this to be a store that
people say, 'Hey, if you're going to go
to Vancouver, you've got to go check
out Nordstrom.'"
As Stone explains, the arrival of
Nordstrom heralds an upping of the game
from some of Vancouver's established retail-
ers. And it doesn't come a moment too soon.
According to a survey BCBusiness conducted
for this issue (the results of which you can read
starting on page 49), British Columbians are not
thrilled with the level of retail service they're
getting. The older and wealthier you are, the
more likely you are to think things are worse
now than they were five years ago. Not a sur-
prise. What is surprising, however, is the "posi-
tive momentum"—as pollster Mario Canseco of
Insights West puts it—for e-commerce: people
reporting a big improvement in their experi-
ences shopping online versus in an actual store.
For retailers heavily invested in f lashy
downtown storefronts, that's a problem. "If
you're not really careful with your custom-
ers," Canseco says, "they'll start to do every-
thing online."
C O N T R I B U T O R S
Matt O'Grady, Editor-in-Chief
mogrady@canadawide.com / @bCbusiness
Veteran Vancouver-based writer
and editor Fiona Morrow (Power
Lunch, p.75, and Big Fat Deal,
BCBusiness.ca) has written on
the arts, travel and lifestyle for
publications in Canada and her U.K.
homeland, including the Guardian,
the Globe and Mail, Time Out
London and Vancouver Magazine.
She particularly loves writing about
food because "when it's good (as
it was at Bauhaus), there are few
better assignments than being paid
to eat well."
Steve Ogle ("The Norwegian
Way, " p.30) is a photographer,
writer and biologist based in
Nelson. Photographing the LNG
plant in Norway on a ski trip with
writer Andrew Findlay was exciting
because it "seemed like an evil
villain's lair set upon a windswept
island and accessible only via
an undersea tunnel. And I had a
photo pass!" Once inside, they
discovered no evil villains, just
skiers like themselves.
What's in Store
editor's desk
In OCTOBER
Our 22nd annual EY Entrepreneur of the Year issue. Plus: Vancouver's big office boom
