In an industry reeling from bankruptcies, vacant storefronts and plummeting sales, Nordstrom is one of the few department store chains to show promise, the New York Times reported today. The higher-end clothing retailer invested in its e-commerce business early on and was judicious about not opening too many new stores, avoiding many of the pitfalls that are driving other retailers to ruin. But even from a position of relative strength, Nordstrom is struggling to navigate a broad upending of the retail industry, as shopping malls lose their appeal and more customers choose to buy goods online. Members of the family that founded Nordstrom in Seattle a century ago — and who still own a substantial portion of its shares — said yesterday that they were exploring ways to shift the company into private ownership. The move reflects optimism that a private equity firm or a sovereign wealth fund would be willing to invest in a large retailer, after many major investors got burned in debt-fueled buyouts that went bust.
