Nordstroms To Move Into Dadeland Mall

By Tiffany Miller
Upscale retailer Nordstrom’s will make a second home in Miami-Dade County in the old Lord & Taylor Store at Dadeland Mall, according to store officials.

The retailer first opened at the Village of Merrick Park in Coral Gables in late September 2002. It’s scheduled to open in Dadeland in the fall of 2004.

"We were really pleased with the response" at the Village of Merrick Park," Nordstrom spokeswoman Sasha Richardson said.

Ms. Richardson would not comment on additional store plans for South Florida, though other former Lord & Taylor sites remain vacant.

The two-level, 150,000-square-foot Dadeland store will join Burdines, Burdines Home Gallery, Saks Fifth Avenue and JCPenney as anchor stores in Dadeland Mall. The center has an additional 140 retail stores.

Lord & Taylor announced at the end of July 2003 that it would close its Florida stores and 25 others around the nation to reposition itself as an upscale fashion retailer in its core markets, the Midwest and the Northeast. At the time, Lord & Taylor was in the process of rebuilding its Dadeland Mall store to have it open for the just-passed holiday shopping season.

Lord & Taylor said Florida stores were not performing satisfactorily, leading to the closing.

Les Morris of Simon Property Group, which has partial ownership of the Dadeland Mall, said Nordstrom is a great contributor to the 275 malls it owns in 37 states. While Mr. Morris would not clarify the occupancy of the Dadeland Mall, he said Simon Property Group’s overall occupancy rate in its malls is 91.9%.

Seattle-based Nordstrom’s operates 148 US stores in 27 states.