Make Merry Store Trim Unveiled!
Cue the holiday cheer, it's the most wonderful time of the year! Our stores have officially unveiled this year's holiday décor. Bright colors, lights and festive fun to welcome our customers and bring the merry this season.
Decorating our stores for the holidays is a happy tradition for us, creating an unforgettable experience for all who walk through our doors. It truly takes a village to bring this to life, and our teams have been hard at work for many months to illuminate the magic of the season at Nordstrom. For a behind-the-scenes look at our holiday in-store décor process, we sat down with Visual Merchandising Director Toni Forslund and Regional Visual Merchandising Manager Sam McIntyre to learn more.
Toni Forslund–Corporate Visual Team
Can you tell us more about the process to ensure our stores are ready for holiday décor set-up each year?
We begin the holiday décor design process each year right after our trim goes up, essentially working on Holiday 365 days a year. We look at what worked well from the previous year and where we can improve. While we're designing, we keep in mind that each store is different, and the decor needs to be installed in one night! We start communicating with our Visual Merchandising teams months ahead of time to make sure each store has what they need so they can start planning for set-up. We have Town Halls, open communication channels and subject matter experts available all along the way. Since our store teams are talented and experienced, this very complicated project almost always happens seamlessly!
What can our customers expect from our holiday in-store décor this year that might be new or different from previous years?
COLOR! While we will still have our traditional green garland and trees with lights, we've added some foil trees in bright pops of color (think pink and chartreuse). We're also focusing the color by floor, with red and pink floors and all green and chartreuse floors. It's going to be a very different look for us and I'm so excited to see it come to life.
What are you most excited about for the holidays this year at Nordstrom?
I'm excited to see our new design approach come to life and that Santa Lane will be back this year in downtown Seattle. This community tradition has been missing the last couple of years and it's going to be so fun to have it back. It's also going to be stunning!
Sam McIntyre–Canada Visual Team
How is the Canada Visual team bringing the holiday magic of Nordstrom to our customers this year?
Our Visual Merchandising team is creating the WOW factor this year! We want customers to feel festive and amazed by the color and uniqueness of the holiday décor as soon as they enter our stores. We are building out impactful gift shops to inspire our customers and give great gift-giving ideas.
Can you tell us more about the process to decorate the Canada stores for the holidays? How many people are involved?
A successful holiday install is a lot of planning and preparation that all comes together overnight. Getting the store ready for the holidays is a total team effort, and we have support from all different departments and our Rack stores. Each store has employees who volunteer to help our visual teams for our overnight holiday install in November.
What can our Canadian customers expect in our stores this holiday season that might be new or different from previous years?
Our holiday décor this year is so unique! Each floor is decorated in a different monochromatic color scheme. The colors are vibrant and bright, and the stores look so festive. My personal favorites are the 9-foot and 11-foot bright pink and green foil trees.
What are you most excited about for the holidays this year at our Canada stores?
I am most excited about that "warm and fuzzy" atmosphere we get to create for our customers and employees. I love the way our stores feel during the holiday season, the energy is incredible! It makes the shopping experience so much more enjoyable, and I love hearing positive feedback from our customers.