The Nordstrom store in Santa Barbara will close its doors permanently by August.
The retailer confirmed the news to KSBY in the following statement:
Our goal is to best position ourselves to serve customers in each market where we operate. Because of the impacts COVID-19 has had on our business, we need to take a critical look at the physical footprint of our stores to determine which we will continue to operate. To respond to the impacts of COVID-19 and ensure we’re able to continue serving customers well into the future, we will be closing 16 of our fleet of full-line stores, including Nordstrom Tyler, Nordstrom Santa Barbara Paseo Nuevo and Nordstrom Montclair Place. We selected these 16 stores based on a variety of factors, including the unique needs of the market, the current state of our business and real estate agreements.
We will not reopen these stores to the public and anticipate all 16 of these stores will be closed by August 2020. These types of decisions are never easy because we realize what this means for our employees. We’re committed to taking care of them as best we can, including providing support and resources through this transition.
Nordstrom has served as an anchoring business of the Paseo Nuevo mall off State Street in downtown Santa Barbara for decades.
The mall lost its other main department store, Macy's, in 2017.
Nordstrom's stores have been temporarily closed since March 17, when many stay-at-home orders went into effect in states across the country. Erik Nordstrom, the company's CEO, said that the changes aren't all due to the pandemic.
“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,” he said.
