Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. announced that it plans to open a full-line department store at Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa in the fall of 2015.
The 140,000-square-foot, three-level Nordstrom store will be built connected to the mall on a parking lot on the east side of the mall, said Mayfair Mall senior general manager Stephen Smith.
Nordstrom is a prominent high-end department store chain.
“Clearly this is a coup for us,” Smith said. “I’ve been here for 17 years and people have been asking for this store more than any other. It’s a tremendous opportunity for Mayfair to be able to bring this luxury store to the Milwaukee market.”
“We’ve heard from customers in the Milwaukee area for years that they would appreciate a store in their community,” said Erik Nordstrom, executive vice president and president of stores for Nordstrom Inc.
The metro Milwaukee area is the largest market in the nation that does not have a Nordstrom store, Smith said. Many Nordstrom shoppers in Wisconsin travel to shop at Nordstrom stores in Chicago, he said.
“It was inevitable that they would (eventually) come to the Milwaukee market,” Smith said. “We’re excited that they selected Mayfair.”
Nordstrom will help drive traffic to the mall, which will benefit the mall’s existing tenants and help attract future tenants, Smith said.
The addition of the Nordstrom store will increase the size of Mayfair Mall to about 1.3 million square feet of space.
Nordstrom has 240 stores in 31 states, including 117 full-line stores and 119 Nordstrom Rack stores, which sell close-out items from Nordstrom stores at a discount.
Wauwatosa is also getting a Nordstrom Rack store. Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate Inc. plans to have a Nordstrom Rack store in its Mayfair Collection development, planned northeast of Highway 45 and Burleigh Street.
