Lord & Taylor to liquidate inventory, Nordstrom to close 16 stores

Two nationally prominent retailers are taking different approaches in returning to brick-and-mortar operations.

Lord & Taylor is planning to liquidate inventory in 38 stores once state governments lift their restrictions on retail operations. According to a Reuters report citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” the company is also bracing for a “bankruptcy process from which it does not expect to emerge,” adding that liquidators are being recruited to coordinate “going out of business” sales.

Lord & Taylor was founded in 1826 and is the nation’s oldest department store chain. Reuters’ unnamed sources added that it “remained possible that external funding or some other intervention could rescue Lord & Taylor.” The company did not publicly comment on the Reuters report.

Lord & Taylor has Fairfield County stores in Danbury, Stamford and Trumbull and Westchester stores in Scarsdale and Yonkers.

Separately, Nordstrom has announced plans to close 16 of its stores. In a press statement, the company said that it would reopen its other stores “in a phased, market-by-market approach where allowed by local authorities and with the health and safety of employees, customers and communities as a priority.”

The company said it would be “restructuring its regions, support roles and corporate organization for greater speed and flexibility. This restructuring is expected to result in expense savings of approximately $150 million, or 30% of the company’s previously announced plans for net cash reductions of more than $500 million in operating expenses, capital expenditures and working capital. These actions, combined with its initial savings plan of $200 (million) to $250 million, represent a reduction in non-occupancy related overhead expenses of approximately 20 percent.”

Nordstrom opened its first Fairfield County store last fall at the SoNo Collection in Norwalk, and its also has a store at The Westchester in White Plains.