Nordstrom Shoots the Piano Players

[dirac]

Nordstrom decides to dispense with the services of its pianists.

Ron Kobayashi, who was a pianist at the Nordstrom at South Coast Plaza and Brea, said in an email that he was laid off from both locations after more than 20 years of service. He said that he was called into a meeting this week and was given the boot with no notice. "The piano is one of the things that sets Norstrom apart. To get rid of that branding is baffling," he said by phone.

Stephan Haager, a pianist at the Brea store for nearly 20 years, said that all of the pianists at his location were laid off as part of a staff reduction. "It's such a small price that they pay," he said. "They're not thinking about their brand name."

Too bad. I remember one occasion where I was taking a break from shopping not far from a Nordstrom pianist. A little girl and her mother sat down and it was evident the child was absolutely enraptured by the piano music. The pianist caught on and started playing directly to and for her, choosing music he thought she would like. It was a nice moment.

[Helene]

I think their decision is very short-sighted. In Seattle I'm not sure what distinguishes the store from Macy's anymore.

[Amy Reusch]

In Connecticut, the prices distinguish Nordstrom from Macy's... My daughter had found a pair of jeans there last summer in Seattle, we went to the Nordstroms here hoping to find the same brand (I consider shopping for a middle school girl an ordeal), but there was nothing for less than $160 pair...[i'm old enough to find that mind boggling], I think what is offered at Nordstrom's outside of Washington State is very different.

There was a piano in the store when it opened... I think I might once have seen someone play it, but can't quite picture it... I think it's very sad how all the department stores have become identical.. in many cases, they've actually become Macy's.

I agree, foolish.

[dirac]

Nordstrom has always had a foot in both camps - pricier than Macy's but also with sales and cheaper options that distinguished it from Saks and Bloomingdale's.

My daughter had found a pair of jeans there last summer in Seattle, we went to the Nordstroms here hoping to find the same brand (I consider shopping for a middle school girl an ordeal), but there was nothing for less than $160 pair..

I had the same sticker shock looking for jeans with my niece. I questioned, mildly, the pricing of jeans at $200 up and she said, "They last so much longer."

[Quiggin]

Nordstrom has always had a foot in both camps - pricier than Macy's but also with sales and cheaper options that distinguished it from Saks and Bloomingdale's.

Before Federated took over everything and squanded names and years of good will there used to be all sorts of intricate tiers of department stores in California. People were intensely loyal to one or the other, and each had a certain look and even particular smells. In Los Angeles there were May Company, The Broadway, Bullock's and Robinson's, pricey but less ostentacious than Magnin's - at Santa Monica (or Little Santa Monica) and Wilshire.

In San Francisco there were Macy's (probably loosely related to the New York one) The Emporium, City of Paris and the great I. Magnin's. Roos Brothers/ Roos-Atkins eventually became Virgin Records and The White House is where the Banana Republic main store is now. (Of course, the quick rise and fall of Flip, the current exuberant and irrepressible movement of capital and hot-rodding of whatever traditional brand names are left is of an even different magnitude.)

Bullocks Wilshire, forever locked in the thirties, had a great tea room, where aunts in white gloves and neices would have little sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Bullocks Westwood had updated the tea room concept to the sixties and to a different demographic - UCLA was across the street and Westwood residents and old movie people like Bette Davis might be comfortable lunching there.

[Helene]

Nordstrom has always had a foot in both camps - pricier than Macy's but also with sales and cheaper options that distinguished it from Saks and Bloomingdale's.

My daughter had found a pair of jeans there last summer in Seattle, we went to the Nordstroms here hoping to find the same brand (I consider shopping for a middle school girl an ordeal), but there was nothing for less than $160 pair..

I had the same sticker shock looking for jeans with my niece. I questioned, mildly, the pricing of jeans at $200 up and she said, "They last so much longer."

As someone who grew up on dungarees and got my entire college wardrobe at Bob's Surplus, I remember when designer jeans first made a splash in the late '70's and my sister spent $70 on a pair. I almost fainted when I saw the price tag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNjntNHHUs0

(Bamberger's was the Macy's of New Jersey, with a branch in the big outdoor shopping mall, the Garden State Plaza, in Paramus, and in high school, I bought a plaid [] raincoat from the Newark branch.)

Bullocks Wilshire, forever locked in the thirties, had a great tea room, where aunts in white gloves and neices would have little sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Bullocks Westwood had updated the tea room concept to the sixties and to a different demographic - UCLA was across the street and Westwood residents and old movie people like Bette Davis might be comfortable lunching there.

That sounds like Bonwit Teller in NYC.

[dirac]

In San Francisco there were Macy's (probably loosely related to the New York one) The Emporium, City of Paris and the great I. Magnin's. Roos Brothers/ Roos-Atkins eventually became Virgin Records and The White House is where the Banana Republic main store is now. (Of course, the quick rise and fall of Flip, the current exuberant and irrepressible movement of capital and hot-rodding of whatever traditional brand names are left is of an even different magnitude.)

I. Magnin was a great store. And of course every year my parents would take us up to the city to see the City of Paris Christmas tree.

[papeetepatrick]

That sounds like Bonwit Teller in NYC.

Or B. Altman with the Charleston Gardens Restaurant in it. I remember Bonwit Teller way, way back, but didn't know it well; believe it was in the same block as Tiffany's. Bergdorf's and and Lord & Taylor still there, and the very old and beautiful Lord & Taylor building from early 20th century is thankfully still there on B'way in the 20s, on the 'Ladies' Mile' strip near the Flatiron. This discussion is depressing, since I see so many examples given in one place. I think I was already going to LA a lot when Bullock's closed, and hadn't thought to go there, believe it was written up in LA Magazine. This is going to continue, this 'pure capitalistic explosion', usually thought to be in its most spectacular 'corporate-spectacle form' in Shanghai. I remember even a bank or two which had pianos in them, and one SoHo clothing store had one right in the middle of the floor, but I think that was less common (however, even Piano Rooms and Bars in restaurants and clubs are disappearing except for the few very rich places). But there's even a further step in this process, and one we discussed a few years ago on another thread: I'm sure most will have read it last week, when Borders, which ran many small bookstores out of business, now is closing 30% of its stores, reason being that e-books are now catching on. According to who you read, whether Mike Davis or other 'urbanismists', you get more commercial districts (like Beverly Center instead of anything quaint left), or prophecies of cities looking more like the Congo, or as Davis puts it a 'Planet of Slums' (I haven't found that his books have really solid enough research, though, since the disasters predicted have rarely come to be, or never existed.) Then, when something very old and traditional, like the Hotel Pierre, gets a multi-million-dollar makeover, I can't figure out how anything in the system works (and I thought the Pierre was fine just the way it was a few years ago.) Altman, for example, has something to do with the May Company, mentioned on its Wiki page, but I can't get all the buyouts and name-uses straight half the time, even if it's my own bank. We used to a have a 'May's' on 14th St. and Klein's as well. Now even the Circuit Citys are gone. the Pierre is now a Raj Hotel...or something. So we either become dinosaurs (like me) or learn to adapt better.

I confess I didn't know about the pianists at Nordstrom's, and may never have been into one. I just looked and don't find one for the 5 boroughs, but they are in New Jersey (at Paramus Mall, I guess, too) and White Plains, NY, etc. Did these all have pianists?

A spokesman for Nordstrom said in a statement that the company has "learned that most customers like the energy and environment that a more contemporary, recorded music offering helps create."

That remark is like from outer space, the recorded music would ever 'create more energy'. Totalement, tellement bizarre...

[carbro]

Nordstrom has always had a foot in both camps - pricier than Macy's but also with sales and cheaper options that distinguished it from Saks and Bloomingdale's.

A very well-dressed friend of mine shopped only Loehmann's (when it was basically all Back Room caliber) and Saks on-sale, noting that they slashed prices much more deeply than any other department store. I didn't have the patience to compare, but I'd count her as a reliable reporter.

(Bamberger's was the Macy's of New Jersey, with a branch in the big outdoor shopping mall, the Garden State Plaza, in Paramus, and in high school, I bought a plaid [] raincoat from the Newark branch.)

My Bamberger's was further down the Parkway, in Eatontown, at what was then called the Monmouth Shopping Center (now Monmouth Mall). Don't worry about your raincoat, Helene. Almost everyone who lived through the '70s has plenty of embarrassing garments in our past. I plead guilty. In addition to Macy's (ne Bamberger's), it now includes a Lord & Taylor.

Or B. Altman with the Charleston Gardens Restaurant in it. I remember Bonwit Teller way, way back, but didn't know it well; believe it was in the same block as Tiffany's.

Didn't Bonwit's face East 57th, adjacent to Tiffany's? Where the big Nike store is now? I still grieve the loss of B. Altman.

Charleston Gardens was a wonderful stopping-off point. On more than one late-December day, I'd find myself doing last-minute holiday shopping in a store luxuriously (for me) bereft of other customers. My comfort and the store's doom were one and the same.

A spokesman for Nordstrom said in a statement that the company has "learned that most customers like the energy and environment that a more contemporary, recorded music offering helps create."

That remark is like from outer space, the recorded music would ever 'create more energy'. Totalement, tellement bizarre...

Customers? Maybe and maybe not, but certainly retailers. A good deal of science has gone into finding what music influences shoppers to linger and buy more.

[papeetepatrick]

Customers? Maybe and maybe not, but certainly retailers. A good deal of science has gone into finding what music influences shoppers to linger and buy more.

I'm sure you're right, and I should have thought of that. It would go with the rest of it, actually, with the thorough success of malls. In Manhattan, where the story about Wal-Mart not yet getting a foothold even sounds strange by now, we probably don't see quite as many of the chains (even though there are tons and I use plenty myself, but for frugality only--who could really love a Rite-Aid? yes, after you get to know your neighborhood people who work there, you like them, but the layouts are usually for the birds no matter how familiar you get with them). So, the recorded music would be a part of the 'spell' that would go along with one's 'shopping experience', to use their terminology, and live music would probably seem disruptive. I myself have never found it very appealing at places like the Met Museum, although I can see that some enjoy it. I think what I was thinking about was that many of even the youth-oriented bistros, as in Chelsea, while they often have recorded music, it will be old Billie Holliday and Ella, or Sinatra, but then that's already a step into a more urbanized environment, the usual suburban mall would probably seem more 'seamless' (or something) with Muzak. I don't think I have been to a Nordstrom's, and all the ones I found googling were in suburbs around New York. Then I had looked back at the article, which indicates that not nearly all had pianos anyway, and that not all are going, although that still would seem to indicate very few. I would imagine the ones in the suburban malls around New York never had them at all, or only a few, but just guessing.

[Quiggin]

B Altman had those incredibly wide aisles and wooden floors - and there was a Saks 34th Street which was differentiated from Saks Fifth. Kleins (wasn't that Judy Holiday's choice of store in Bells Are Ringing?) sat empty for years on Union Square. I think it was originally cobbled together out of lots of smaller stores & covered with huge signs – blue neon stipe things? – that sort of held everything together.

papeetepatrick:

Then, when something very old and traditional, like the Hotel Pierre, gets a multi-million-dollar makeover, I can't figure out how anything in the system works (and I thought the Pierre was fine just the way it was a few years ago.)

Anytime they say they're going to refreshen or restore something, or update it for our time, whether a building or a classic translation of a novel - it means they're going to destoy it but very politely. In city planning talk whenever they use the term "celebrate" as in celebrate the history, celebrate the street, watch out.

[papeetepatrick]

papeetepatrick:

Then, when something very old and traditional, like the Hotel Pierre, gets a multi-million-dollar makeover, I can't figure out how anything in the system works (and I thought the Pierre was fine just the way it was a few years ago.)

Anytime they say they're going to refreshen or restore something, or update it for our time, whether a building or a classic translation of a novel - it means they're going to destoy it but very politely. In city planning talk whenever they use the term "celebrate" as in celebrate the history, celebrate the street, watch out.

I tend to go along with the sensibility, but am befuddled on this one: They did anything but destroy the Pierre, it's more magnificent than ever before. They just had the money. Wouldn't you say it's like Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and/or Steinway (and maybe the Paris Theater is the one old cinema here which has never gone cineplex, not sure), the last most prestigious (and always exorbitantly expensive) things?. Also, when things are definitely not on the skids, they tend to renovate for no reason except for show: Personally, I really do dislike everything they did with the exterior of Juilliard just as part of some anniversary or such and we've been discussing the problems at NYST for some years now here, although that I only mind for sounding even worse than it already did. The Cafe Pierre was delightful to me, like being in a Fragonard, and that made it special (you don't get that sensation every day, and never at an art museum); and they'd have a good, but discreet Cole Porter singer-pianist in what was more like Henry Green might describe than French in the club/bar part (and they do still have live piano there). Now it's called Le Caprice and is more trendy than ever. It's where we are going, in fact, to celebrate, in June, when my friend from Switzerland comes over, and you have to make reservations a month in advance, they have a fairly reasonable lunch pre-fixe, etc. They did something similar with the Sherry Netherland just one block down maybe 15 years ago or even more, and I think the Plaza across the street has always stayed within bounds. My theory is just that these particular hotels are so famous that to change their character entirely would not work with the dwindling but richer super-rich that usually go there. (same thing happened with Le Cirque, which I was fortunate to go to in 2003 once; I find it hideous and barnlike, like a high-toned Planet Hollywood, but then, after reading semi-critical reviews of the food, I found that flawless, not a single detail off.)

Some of your memory of Klein's sounds right colour-wise, and I ought to remember better, because I did real shopping there until it closed, and that was way back.

The most mysterious is how Julius', the oldest gay bar with the famous burgers, never goes under. My best friend here and I go there every Friday, and he always says 'Oh, I don't think Julius' will ever close'. Meantime, everything else has, and much more famous and prosperous. So the owner, whom I've met, could possibly own the building, or the usual 10-year lease, may be in an early phase--but they even have live jazz on Sundays (they didn't before), so I still can't figure out some of it. The Carlyle is still so famous that it makes it with the 60+ crowd who can afford the huge cover to hear the 'old legends', but then so is the divine Lenox Lounge in Harlem (where B. Holliday did sing) still doing fine. Some of these things may have to do with the notorious 'informal arrangements' that New York is infamous for.

[Amy Reusch]

Bamburgers, Epsteins.... and then there was the stamp collecting counter at Gimbels... & Korvette's; the pre-Walmart.

[Jayne]

About a dozen years ago, I was an assistant buyer for sweaters at Nordstrom in the corporate office. From a worker-bee perspective, what differentiated Nordies from the other department stores was the pay scale for the sales staff. At Macy's, an employee made minimum wage, maybe a little more, but no commission. Nordstrom paid a higher starting hourly wage, plus commission, plus employee stock. About 40% of commission was made during two important events: Day-After-Thanksgiving to Christmas and the Anniversary Sale. All corporate staff was called down to works support for the sales staff.

From a customer perspective, the difference was the level of service at Nordstrom, the ambience, the depth of stock, the variety of shoes, the quality of merchandise - and the "no questions asked" return policy.

The flagship store (where corporate is located) has an entire floor for their employee cafeteria and lounge. During those intense sales days, you could walk into the lounge and see shifts of sales staff come in, flop down on the floor and just lay there for half an hour, and it was totally silent, you could hear a pin drop, then return without a word to work. On the sales floor, it was chaos, with the staff racing from stockroom to the customers, and back and forth. They worked crazy hours, never lost their smiles for customers, and took it all to the bank in commissions.

With the advent of Walmart, Target, Outlet malls, and expansion of Nordstrom Racks, same store sales at the main stores began to fall. When the dot com bust came, Nordstrom really suffered on the west coast. This was right about the time Nordstrom started their misguided "Reinvent Yourself" with lots of neon orange in the stores. This alienated the long time "ladies who lunch" crowd, but did not attract new customers. That marketing plan died a quick death.

Since then, there was a coup de etat of some of the Nordstrom execs, including some 4th generation Nordstrom family members, with just 3 remaining in key corporate positions. Nordstrom now focuses on attracting the "Real Housewives" crowd - who can - and do - charge up their credit cards with name brand jeans that cost $170, $800 dresses, $2000 suits, etc. If you're looking for $30 jeans, target is the best place to find them. Nordstrom's is never going to go cheap, because the profit margins are not there, and the competition is very stiff.

I have a lot of other stories about working there, honestly, all positive. It was a great place for women to work, the standards of professionalism were top notch, the Nordstrom family members are uniformly nice, and the vendors had decades long relationships with the company, respect the Nordstrom brand, and provide high quality products.