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Nordstrom, the iconic department store in Paseo Nuevo in Santa Barbara, will close by August, Noozhawk has learned.
Nordstrom’s closure had long been a rumor, particularly after Macy’s shuttered in 2017. Despite the assurances from management, the inevitable came true on Thursday, when management employees were told and word hit the street fast.
“Nordstrom has been a cornerstone of Paseo Nuevo for nearly 30 years,” said Mary Lynn Harms-Romo, marketing manager for Paseo Nuevo. “COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on retail across the board. We are saddened and disappointed to see the announcement that Nordstrom will be leaving Santa Barbara.”
The news of the department store’s departure is a huge blow to downtown and Santa Barbara retail. Paseo Nuevo is in the process of negotiating a new long-term lease with the city, and although Nordstrom was not part of that lease, losing the last anchor tenant in the mall is sure to complicate the deal — and, at a minimum, cast doubt on the mall’s retail success in the immediate future.
“Our immediate priority remains with our tenants, their employees and the community we serve,” Harms-Romo said. “We have been in constant communication with Nordstrom and are collaborating to transition their space.”
She said new possibilities could arise.
“The closure provides an opportunity to rebalance the asset and continue to evolve Paseo Nuevo through a transformative anchor adaptive reuse,” Harms-Romo said. “It’s unfortunate to lose them as a partner, but we remain committed to serving the greater Santa Barbara communities as a retail, business and cultural center of downtown.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic shutdown has crushed many businesses, and the ones that were struggling before the pandemic hit have been among the first to close. Nordstrom has been shedding stores across the country as retailers ditch box stores for online shopping.
Kyle’s Kitchen Helps Families with Special Needs
Kyle’s Kitchen has launched a new program to help feed special-needs families.
Owners Jay Ferro and wife Deena Ferro are donating 200 Family Meals. Each family meal feeds four.
“Nearly every family we know with special needs is struggling right now,” Deena Ferro said. “Their lives are uniquely challenging in normal times, but in today’s COVID-19 world, families with special-needs children are dealing with a new reality that is creating incredible amounts of stress in the home.”
Ferro, whose 15-year-old son, Kyle, has special needs, told Noozhawk that during typical circumstances, having a child with special needs can be a challenge, but during this pandemic it can be “overwhelming.”
“There’s no structure that they crave,” she said. “It can just be an overwhelming experience along with all the other challenges at this time that we are facing.”
She said her family is there to support other families with special-needs members.
“We’re all in this together, so if we could help some family not do dishes that night, or if they have a medically challenged child, if we could get someone to deliver food for the night,” she said. “It’s just a small thing to let people know we are there.”
The company also has created a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $20,000, which will feed more than 7,500 special-needs family members. Kyle’s Kitchen will match the donations up to $10,000.
“We want to help the community closest to our hearts — the special-needs families here in Santa Barbara County,” Jay Ferro said. “At the same time, we are able to keep our employees working and re-employ more members of our Kyle’s Kitchen employee family, whose own families are struggling due to the necessity for broad layoffs that have had to occur during this coronavirus pandemic.”
New Downtown Business Leader
Downtown Santa Barbara has hired Robin Elander as its interim executive director.
The organization is responsible for promoting downtown businesses, nonprofit organizations and associate members. She is scheduled to start the job Monday.
“It’s going to take us all working together to recover, innovate and grow in these unprecedented circumstances,” Elander said. “Let’s get the conversations started and make some downtown magic happen.”
Elander has worked locally since 2011, supporting the startup efforts of Impact Hub, now Kiva CoWork. She worked for the past five years as the executive director of the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Celebration.
Jeannine’s Reopens in Montecito
Jeannine’s has reopened in Montecito for takeout dining. The restaurant, with locations in Montecito, Santa Barbara and Goleta, is starting with Montecito and hoping to slowly open all three.
“We transformed our business,” owner Alison Hardey said.
Hardey said they are focusing on treating the customer with an elegant experience, even if it is just to pick up and take home. They have brought the white picket fence inside the store and decorated areas with flowers and signs. Customers who order online or call in orders can text the restaurant and bakery when they arrive and a Jeannine’s employee will deliver food to the car.
“We’re going to still make it a special experience even though it is a takeaway,” Hardey said.
Hardey said she recently received a Small Business Administration loan, which allowed her to reopen and offer takeout food.
She has several cake orders for Mother’s Day and, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, her baker is giving people a “baby cake” with a candle to blow out, separate from the larger cake.
“Let’s do something with this,” she said. “Let’s not sit around and feel sorry for each other.”
She’s optimistic that things can turn around and, in the meantime, she said she is committed to providing a great takeout experience.
“We have a path forward,” she said. “We can see it. I feel a shift. We are ready for it.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.