Nordstrom Announces Designer Collections Website

SEATTLE, Jan 13, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Imagine strolling through the designer boutiques on Champs-Elysees in Paris or Fifth Avenue in New York, delightful surprises inside each doorway. On February 6th, that vision will become a virtual reality when Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) launches its Designer Collections website featuring ten signature boutiques including Giorgio Armani, Blumarine, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Missoni, Ralph Lauren and Roberto Cavalli. The new site is a revolutionary hybrid of illustration, animation and fashion photography designed as an avenue with individual designer shops. Illustrated by artist Ruben Toledo, the site uses Flash technology to provide an unparalleled online designer shopping experience.

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From the Nordstrom homepage at www.nordstrom.com, customers can access the site by clicking on the "Designer Collections" tab in the top navigation bar. From there, customers are transported to an illustrated boulevard of ten designer shops with a Nordstrom store at the end of the avenue. Each shop has its own branded designer concept -- Dolce and Gabbana's shop is an Italian pallazo, Donna Karan's is a New York brownstone, while Marc Jacobs' has the ivy-covered façade of his Los Angeles storefront. Nordstrom worked closely with each of the design houses to get the details of their virtual boutique just right.

The site features ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories collections providing customers with the opportunity to shop in a total designer merchandise environment. The interior of each shop features Ruben Toledo fashion illustrations that mirror the look and feel of the designer's collection. Once a customer clicks on a ready-to-wear, shoe or accessory illustration, the site reverts to fashion photography and customers can then view photos of items from the designers' spring collections. The site also features a store locator and designer event listings.

"It was important to us to provide our designer customers with a dynamic online shopping experience," says executive vice-president of designer apparel Sue Patneaude. "We wanted to inspire our customer to have a little fun and to deliver a personalized customer service experience online -- just like we do in our stores. Our goal was to take online shopping to another level by offering more than a static catalog on the web," Patneaude adds.

The website is phase one of a multi-phased project release that is scheduled to take place over the next 18 months including adding additional designers, department shops and e-commerce functionality. For the February launch, a dedicated team of Designer Collections specialists -- separate from the Nordstrom.com main call center -- will take orders by phone and handle customer emails, phone calls and live chat to create a personal shopping experience similar to in Nordstrom stores. The team of designer specialists has an average of 15 years experience with Nordstrom. Launching the designer site supports the retailer's multi-channel strategy by bringing a more complete version of what a Nordstrom store has to offer online.

About Nordstrom

Nordstrom, Inc. is one of the nation's leading fashion specialty retailers, with 155 U.S. stores located in 27 states. Founded in 1901 as a shoe store in Seattle, today Nordstrom operates 98 Full-Line Stores, 49 Nordstrom Racks, five Faconnable boutiques, one freestanding shoe store and two clearance stores. Nordstrom also operates 32 Faconnable boutiques in Europe. Additionally, Nordstrom serves customers through its online presence at http://www.nordstrom.com and through its catalogs. Nordstrom, Inc. is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN.

CONTACT: Pamela Perret

Nordstrom, Inc.
               206-373-3171

SOURCE Nordstrom, Inc.

Pamela Perret of Nordstrom, Inc., 1-206-373-3171

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