Nordstrom Is Getting Into the Luxury Resale Business

It’s a pretty depressing time for retail, as many stores most of us grew up bored in while our moms browsed sale racks are shutting their doors. Nordstrom however, is in the middle of something of a renaissance because the department store seems to understand what customers want (plenty of options at a variety of price points, a nice wide aisle between the stuff you can’t afford and the stuff you can, generous return policies) as well as in a discount store. Nordstrom Rack, the brand’s answer to T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s is a less chaotic discount shopping experience, offering completely adequate basics one doesn’t have to dig for. Now, in an attempt to cash in on the secondhand luxury goods market, Nordstrom is testing See You Tomorrow, which will sell the store’s returned and/or damaged luxury goods at discounted prices.

Starting January 31, online and in its New York City flagship location, Nordstrom will test out its luxury resale venture by offering brands like Burberry, Thom Browne, Isabel Marant, Off-White and Adidas for an initial six-month run. The store in a store will also serve as a Buffalo Exchange for rich people, giving them the chance to sell their high-end secondhand items in return for Nordstrom gift cards.

It will be interesting to see both how Nordstrom prices the items for sale and how this model might look inside the store. Nordstrom already sells its returns in stores called Last Chance located in Phoenix, Arizona and Chicago, Illinois, but those locations more closely resemble the thrilling madness of a Filene’s Basement, where one might find four-year-old Prada nestled alongside innocuous in-house brand pieces on a disheveled round rack. The hunt is part of the experience as well as the reason for the deep discounts, so it remains to be seen what the surcharge will be for finger spacing the hangers. Still, the possibility of nice stuff for cheap is always very welcome, and I am very ready to take a look.