Nordstrom has appointed a new Vice President, Regional Manager for its Canadian operations, and has also announced its sixth Canadian Nordstrom Rack location.

Nordstrom’s new Canadian Vice President will be Michelle Haggard, who most recently held the position of vice-president of Nordstrom’s Southeast division in the United States. She has been with Nordstrom since 1991, rising through the ranks from salesperson in the company’s Riverside, California store, to buyer roles, and eventually helping lead the company’s expansion into Boston. In 2010, she was promoted to Southeast Rack regional manager, which she held until 2013. Nordstrom’s Canadian division will be operated from a new head office in downtown Toronto, with details to follow.

Karen McKibbin has been president of Nordstrom Canada since September of 2012, and will now be president of Nordstrom’s off-price division, Nordstrom Rack. Nordstrom Rack will open its first Canadian stores in the spring of 2018, and as of now has announced six Canadian store locations. Nordstrom Rack’s previously announced Canadian stores include One Bloor Street East in Toronto, Vaughan Mills (north of Toronto), Deerfoot Meadows in Calgary, South Edmonton Common in Edmonton, and at Ottawa Train Yards in Ottawa. The Toronto, Vaughan Mills and Calgary stores will open in the spring of 2018, while the Edmonton and Ottawa locations will open in the fall of 2018.

Nordstrom has also just announced its sixth Canadian store, to be located at Heartland Town Centre in Mississauga. the 35,000 square foot store is scheduled to open in the fall of 2018. Heartland Town Centre is a power centre managed by Orlando Corporation, and features retailers such as Costco, Loblaws, Marshalls, Winners and H&M. Nordstrom has said that it plans to eventually operate between 15 and 20 Nordstrom Rack locations in Canada.

Nordstrom Rack will compete with Saks Fifth Avenue’s off-price concept Saks OFF 5TH, which plans to have 25 Canadian store locations by the end of next year. Saks OFF 5TH has announced 18 Canadian locations so far, with nine of those having opened since March of 2016.

Nordstrom entered the Canadian market in September of 2014 with the opening of a 140,000 square foot store at Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre. A 157,000 square foot Ottawa CF Rideau Centre location followed in March of 2015, along with a 230,000 square foot Vancouver CF Pacific Centre flagship in September of 2015. In September of 2016, Nordstrom opened its first Toronto store at CF Toronto Eaton Centre (220,000 square feet), followed by the October 2016 opening of a 200,000 square foot store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. On September 15 of this year, Nordstrom will open its third full-line store at Toronto’s CF Sherway Gardens, measuring about 140,000 square feet.

*We amended this article from a previous version, noting Ms. Haggard is a VP, not President.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: January 11, 2017