Nordstrom Local is a brand new concept store very different from the retailer’s traditional brick and mortar stores. Instead of the usual 13,000 square meters, this location is just 280. The idea is to create a small neighborhood retail hub.

But there’s a catch. There is no merchandise in this store. No racks of clothing whatsoever.

CGTN’s May Lee reports.

Nordstrom Local is all about linking the business of online retail with in-store personal stylists and custom tailors all under one roof. Instead of customers scouring through racks and shelves of merchandise, personal stylists will curate outfits from nordstrom.com free of charge and ship it to this location where customers can then try everything on.

Also on site – same day alterations, same day online order pickup, and for a little pampering, a nail salon with 8 manicures to choose from.

“We know services matter and we also know that there are more and more demands on a customers time so making it easy for them to access our services but also our Nordstrom employees at a time and place that works for them we think and we hope will be well received,” Shea Jensen, senior vice president of Customer Experience at Nordstrom said.

This is the first Nordstrom Local so it’s a bit of an experiment, but with traditional retailers feeling the heat from e-commerce, which has grown about 15 percent every year since 2010, the need to shake things up is crucial to survival.

“It recognizes the changing retail landscape” Anthony Dukes, associate professor of marketing at the University of Southern California, said. “It recognizes what online can’t deliver and it wants to be where shoppers are, who are in smaller spaces where people are moving to, more dense urban areas where people are and you can’t have a big store and Nordstrom’s seems to get this.”