The firms would be those interested in bidding on the retailer's planned construction start this summer of its estimated 100,000-sf store at the 1.1 million-sf Florida Mall near Orlando International Airport.

Nordstrom took out a half-page, black-and-white advertisement in the Orlando Sentinel at an estimated cost of $1,500 to invite vendors and suppliers to the one-day, 9 a.m.- to-4 p.m. event at the Adam's Mark Hotel in south Orlando.

Nordstrom is looking for subcontractors and suppliers for the interior and exterior portions of the estimated $15 million store. Barbara Valdez, in charge of the supplier diversity program, and Claude Greene, the program's coordinator, could not be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline to learn the aggregate value of the contracts available to minority and women-owned businesses or the hard construction cost of the building.

But construction industry estimators familiar with comparable retail projects tell GlobeSt.com the contracts could be worth an estimated 10% of the total construction cost or at least $1.5 million. Winter Construction Co. of Atlanta won the general contracting contract last week for an undisclosed amount.

To qualify for the bidding, contractors and suppliers must be licensed by the state, bondable and document private sector experience, according to the ad. Joint ventures, construction managers, architects or other designers are not eligible to participate in the open house or in the bidding.

Nordstrom plans to have the store open by year end 2002 or first quarter 2003. The retailer had planned to open the store in early 2002 but pushed the timetable back last November when it also shelved plans for new stores in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Nordstrom was scheduled to be one of seven anchors, along with Saks Fifth Avenue and Burdines, at Florida Mall in 2002.

The company opened its first Florida store last November in Boca Raton and plans to open its first Central Florida location at an undetermined date this year at International Plaza in Tampa, FL. The 100-year-old family-founded company is also targeting a 2002 opening of another new Miami area unit in suburban Coral Gables, FL.

When it opens in Orlando, the 141-store Nordstrom organization will be going cash register to cash register with Bloomingdale's, Macy's and Neiman Marcus at the 1.3 million-sf Mall at Millenia, also scheduled to open in 2003, five miles from the Florida Mall.

Nordstrom restructured its corporate staff last August after sagging mid-year sales. For March, the company's last sales-reporting period, Nordstrom posted preliminary sales of $442.3 million, up 9.5% from $404.1 million in March 2000. Same-store sales dropped 1.1%.

After making calendar-adjusted results, however, total March sales increased by about 6.1% and same-store sales (stores open at least one year) declined by about 4.3%.

Preliminary year-to-date sales of $794.4 million increased 8% compared to 2000 year-to-date revenue of $735.8 million. Year-to-date same-store sales dropped 2.4%.

In its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2001, Nordstrom posted a profit of $101.9 million on sales of $5.5 billion, according to the store's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company will report April sales on May 4 and its first-quarter earnings on May 11.