FREEHOLD – Reports are coming in that two of the area’s larger retailers are closing up shop: Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor.
The Nordstrom in the Freehold Raceway Mall will close in August, radio station NJ 101.5 reported.
It will be one of 16 stores closing in the chain. The announcement was made at a time when the retailer was repositioning itself to reach more customers online.
“We’ve been investing in our digital and physical capabilities to keep pace with rapidly changing customer expectations. The impact of COVID-19 is only accelerating the importance of these capabilities in serving customers,” said Erik Nordstrom, chief executive officer of Nordstrom, Inc. in a press release. “More than ever, we need to work with flexibility and speed. Our market strategy helps with both, bringing inventory closer to where customers live and work, allowing us to use our stores as fulfillment centers to get products to customers faster, and connecting digital and physical experiences with services like curbside pickup and returns.”
The online business represented one third of its sales in 2019, the company reported.
A petition to keep the Freehold store open can be found here: change.org/p/nordstrom-keep-nordstrom-in-freehold-nj-open. There are already thousands of signatures.
The person who started the petition – an employee – wrote the following: “For the last 27 years Nordstrom at the Freehold Raceway Mall has been serving you (our amazing customers) and our community. Today, May 7, we were informed that our store will not reopen due to the COVID-19 crisis. We love all of our customers and have formed deep bonds with all of you; we know shopping online will never replace the years of service and friendship that we have shared. We have watched your children grow up, we have dressed you for vacations, weddings and once in a lifetime milestones that could never be forgotten. We have faith in knowing that you shop at our location because of the friendships and connections that you have built with your favorite sales people. So we’re asking that you sign this petition in an attempt to get the Nordstrom family to change their minds and keep your local and favorite Nordstrom afloat. We are all in this together!”
Nordstrom has other stores in New Jersey, including a Nordstrom Rack in Eatontown.
Its closure joins other closures in the area. The Freehold Raceway Mall also lost their Sears recently. Lord & Taylor, which has a location in this mall as well, is bracing for a bankruptcy process.
Reuters reported that the chain plans on liquidating its stores once they are allowed to reopen.
The publisher quoted unnamed sources within the organization who said that Lord & Taylor has lined up liquidators to help run the going out of business sales and has been exploring filing for bankruptcy.
