Nordstrom Opens First Florida Store at Boca Raton's Town Center Mall

BOCA RATON, FL-Nordstrom isn’t really a full-line department store but the 99-year-old, Seattle-based retailer still brought out the shopping hordes today at the opening of its two-level, 193,000-sf, $38 million store at prosperous 20-year-old Town Center Mall.

Nordstrom employs a staff of 380 catering to shoppers looking for apparel, shoes and accessories. The store does not stock home, appliance products or sporting goods.

The five other anchors at the 1.5 million-sf, 150-store Town Center Mall are Bloomingdale’s, Burdines, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor and Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Mall owner Simon Property Group of Indianapolis, IN acquired the shopping center in a $5.8 billion buyout of Corporate Property Investors in 1998.

Nordsrom family members run the company again after a September management shakeout that saw the departure of CEO John Whitacre, a non-family executive. But the company’s stock isn’t setting any records on Wall Street, trading around $17 per share but still above the August low of $14.