The much-anticipated Nordstrom Rack Grand Opening was held today as doors opened to the public at the recently renovated East Bay Bridge Shopping Center.
The off-price clothing retailer’s 38,000 square foot store boasts a wide range of well-regarded clothing brands, such as Kate Spade and Hugo Boss, at prices 30-70% off.
“The company wants to offer the best brands at the best prices,” noted Jessica Canfield, spokesperson for Nordstrom Rack. Items found at the Rack could be overstock items, close-outs, and end-of-season merchandise. Other items may be transferred in from full-line Nordstrom stores.
Fans lined up as early at 6:30 a.m for the opportunity to win $100 & $1,000 gift cards.
Canfield also noted the store’s large cosmetics selection came at the request of regular rack customers. “Cosmetics are available across our rack stores. We’re aiming to build on and expand our offering,” said Canfield.
The company chose Emeryville because it was convenient for customers and already a destination. “We feel really good about other retail and entertainment options nearby,” which played into the company’s location to open in Emeryville, said Canfield.
Sixty full and part-time employees will be employed at the Emeryville Location. Although Emeryville currently has the highest minimum wages in the nation, Canfield noted that this did not impact staffing or operations. “Our staffing is consistent across the country. We want to make sure we have right amount of folks to take care of customers.”
Employees of big businesses like Nordstrom Rack will start at $14.44/hr.
The E’ville Eye got an exclusive look at the store before opening on Wednesday and saw many aisles of shoes, big name brand clothing for men and women on dozens of racks, a large assortment of jewelry, watches, handbags, and formal wear. Store employees were also busy preparing another large shipment of merchandise for display.
During the grand opening celebration, customers lined up as early as 6:30 a.m. for a chance to win gift cards to store. Early arriving customers were entered for a chance to win one of thirty $100 gift cards and one $1,000 gift card. The winner of the larger gift card was allowed access into the store 30 minutes before the official open time to get a head start on shopping with a personal stylist.
Expect crowds and circling cars for the foreseeable future at the East Bay Bridge Mall Area.
The Emeryville Nordstrom Rack will have many of the same features that are found in other Rack stores, such as on-site alteration. Another innovative feature is the mobile check-out function, which allows customers to pay for their purchases with any store employee, rather than wait in line at a checkout stand.
The company plans on holding a “Clear the Rack” sales event on November 6th through 11th and then again on December 26th through January 3rd. They will be open on Black Friday with earlier opening hours.
On November 21, the company will also be holding a 10x point event for Nordstrom credit or debit card holders, when they spend $150 or more in store, online, or at HauteLook.com.
Nordstrom Rack is based headquartered in Seattle, Washington and is a division of Nordstrom. The company currently operates 188 Rack stores in 38 States.
Regular operating hours at this location will be Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
“Sixty full and part-time employees will be employed at the Emeryville Location. Although Emeryville currently has the highest minimum wages in the nation, Canfield noted that this did not impact staffing or operations.”
That’s a revealing tidbit. 55 employees is the cut-off point between small and big business in Emeryville (with big business wage rates at more than $14 per hour).
This Nordstom store opening doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in the Eville Eye. We were told by you the increase in our minimum wage would shut businesses down everywhere. Now we find out that warning was based on…what? wishful thinking? There hasn’t been the wholesale collapse of the Emeryville business community you predicted. Just the opposite we’re finding. You’ve only found one business that shut down because they couldn’t handle $12.25 per hour (the same rate as Oakland). And a $12.25 wage is something you said was good. A ‘regional rate’ I believe is what you called it. What now? Time to double down Eville Eye? Bring back the $9 wage for Emeryville? I can’t imagine there will be a mea culpa coming from this blog or even any self examining.
Yep, the big box stores are doing just fine…as expected. Make a run around the small, local businesses like restaurants, and you’ll hear a completely different story. They’re struggling, laying off workers, cutting hours, and looking to move or close.
Ask the properties trying to rent retail space today and you’ll hear they can’t rent space because being in Emeryville has become a massive liability for small business. Talk to the owners of long standing businesses who aren’t making it anymore and trying to find a solution. Talk to the employees who have lost their jobs.
Do something the city council was unwilling to do and listen to small, local businesses, and what you’ll hear won’t fit your narrative, but it will be the truth. And it’s not pretty, it’s not progress, and it’s not social justice.
The city council, on behalf of the SEIU and organized labor, has permanently damaged Emeryville as a place for diversity, for small locally serving businesses, for young job seekers, for entry level workers, and for residents.
But we have a Nordstrom Rack. Yep, the big box stores are doing just fine.
So what you’re saying is the small businesses can’t even afford the $12.25 Oakland wage, the regional wage? So you’re saying we can’t raise the minimum wage at all? It has to stay at $9? What about the regional minimum wage?
Many can’t afford $12.25. The $12.25 was an extremely difficult option on an unreasonable timeline but it was far better than the outlandish option that city council went with. Who jacks their minimum wage from $9 to $14.44 with two weeks notice to businesses?
Most businesses were in favor of moderate increases to the minimum wage over a reasonable timeline.
$9.00 = historically low
$11.00 = above historical averages
$12.25 = difficult
$13.00 = extreme
$13.50 = unreasonable
$14.00 = irresponsible
$14.50 = absurd
$15.00 = impossible
$15.50 = idiotic
$16.00 = fantasy
We are currently at stage 1 and headed down the list.
If you are a small, local business and hire entry level employees, stay out of Emeryville. You are not wanted here.
The best option for Emeryville: keep the workers at the lowest possible wage forever. It’s the best for all concerned.
Actually no one has the power to “keep the workers at the lowest possible wage forever”. This is America and people can and do move up. Almost everyone in the US has worked a minimum wage job but very few are still doing so. Only the workers have the ability to keep themselves at the lowest possible wage forever.
But, governments do have the ability to guarantee that some people can never get a job by pricing them out of the market. If you have $12 an hour worth of skill and the minimum wage is $15, you are legally prohibited from working. You are condemned by your government to poverty.
The minimum wage defines the point at which people are excluded from participating in working society. At the right level it excludes few and ensures others have a strong motivation and path to better themselves and their income. At the wrong level, it excludes many and encourages others to never develop which hurts everyone.
In Emeryville, the level has been set far too high, far too fast, and is slated to get worse. It is hurting entry level workers, those in poverty, and the businesses that serve as the ladder out of poverty.
The Seattle minimum wage is taking its toll too:
https://www.aei.org/publication/minimum-wage-effect-from-jan-to-sept-seattle-msa-restaurant-jobs-fell-700-vs-5800-food-jobs-in-rest-of-state/
Yes Brian (I liked you better when you trolled us with your real name!), Big box stores are still “viable” in Emeryville. Do you think they’ll put a Chipotle in Bucci’s old spot?
So Rob, you too think raising Emeryville’s minimum wage is no good? That’s not what you said before. You said $12.25 is a good wage for small business. Now you’re saying that rate will destroy small business. Not everyone that thinks we should have a regional minimum wage is Brian. Nice try.
For the record, Brian was opposed to a regional minimum wage. His stated position was that we should leapfrog all the surrounding cities, which would result in Berkeley trying to compete with us to be higher, and then we compete again driving up wages everywhere. Given Berkeley’s efforts to get a $19 minimum wage and the city council majority’s tendency to align with Brian on everything, Emeryville residents, workers, and businesses should be hoping November 2016 comes as soon as possible.
Sorry, I really don’t have the time or energy to keep setting the record straight with trolls but I’ll tell you what: Here’s a link to everything we’ve posted on the MWO. If you can find anything that suggested we were against raising the minimum wage besides advocating for a regional approach for small business, please share. Otherwise, please stop lying as hopefully your parents taught you at some point this is bad (it’s not nice and it hurts your credibility). Thanks!
https://evilleeye.com/news-commentary/minwage/
You sure are obsessed with Brian Donahue aren’t you? You think anyone that disagrees with you is him. Do you dream of him in your sleep?
I didn’t lie. I said you wanted a $12.25 minimum wage and that’s the same wage that you said drove that chocolate store out of business that you wrote about earlier. The chocolate store couldn’t handle raising the minimum wage as your regional approach calls for. You need to own that.
And BTW, it’s really childish to call anyone that disagrees with you a troll. Are you a journalist? Is that how the Evill Eye rolls? There are the good readers who agree with everything you say and then there are the trolls who are bad people.
Brian, Your IP address is 107.138.145.XXX and I see it every time you comment. (all 71 of them … Who is obsessed with who?). Kinda like when you posted the fake comment purporting to be IHOP. Sorry to pull the curtain back on your lies Dude, please move along. I’d like to retain the anonymous commenting.
Not Brian but interesting that anonymous commenters are not really anonymous. Look out, he’s coming to get you.
Your IP address doesn’t reveal your identity but if you’re not Brian, you’re sharing a modem with him. There’s only one person I know with the same exact views as him and also lives next to him. Hmmmm.
E’Ville Eye Readers Warning:
Critical Comments May Result in an Unwarranted Identity Disclosure
The editor of this blog tells the readership they are permitted to make anonymous comments. However the editor reserves the right to reveal the IP address of commenters who make points he doesn’t like. Further, the editor will libelously and without evidence assign an actual identity to the address if the comment goes against his editorial position depending on his whim. Those commenters wishing actual anonymity may want to reconsider making a comment at all.
Warning: If you’re going to make fake comments purporting to be from others to fit your agenda, troll and lie like Brian Donahue has been known to do, I reserve the right to call you out on your B.S. If you’d prefer your comments be censored and cherry-picked, please comment on the Emeryville Tattler Opinion Blog.
Again, Rob tells his readers comments are anonymous. There’s a privacy implication with that. But Rob will not honor his readers legitimate desire for privacy and it’s done by deceptive means. He shouldn’t say it’s anonymous if it isn’t.
Another thing Rob has yet to learn; actual journalists use the word ‘allegedly’ to qualify misdeeds unless there’s been a conviction in a court of law. But to be a responsible journalist and assume innocence unless proven otherwise is not something Rob can countenance, he’d rather slime his political enemies. Check it out for yourselves, E’Ville Eye readers…see how often Rob is a journalist vs how often he uses libelously this blog to serve his right wing agenda. On a side note, watch Rob uncomfortably twist (in the Tattler’s spotlight) and quietly pivot during the upcoming City Council elections when he’ll have to take back previously held do or die positions. But rest assured Emeryville residents, the Tattler will be there to report on it all.
The Tattler is not journalism, and Brian, you are not a journalist. You’re a guy who rants, invents wacky stories to fit a half-baked narrative, and writes them down using a mix of tabloid fluff and conspiracy nonsense. You pretend to be the high-minded idealist while demonstrating a complete lack of ideals, progressive or otherwise.
If a man can’t get along with his community, he has no business judging others who provide a tremendous service to it.
Yes, Brian, please take your own advice and “reconsider making a comment at all”. The editor of this blog has revealed exactly one IP address and done so in a fairly benign way to encourage you to behave according to social norms. He is not the first nor will he be the last to make this attempt.
You were recently banned by another social network (for the second time I believe) for your behavior. That should be a good indication to you of where the problem lies.
While in most cases Rob would be better off ignoring you, I think given the current City Council majority’s relationship with you, their tendency to follow your lead on every radical position you take, and their tacit approval of your actions, Rob’s probably doing the right thing for the community by bringing your actions to light. It says a lot about the situation in which Emeryville now finds itself.
Why not use your own blog as a forum for your positions rather than the comment section of this one? Rob, I’m sure would agree to a similar non-incursion pact with respect to your blog.
It would save the rest of us from having to sift through all the bickering.
The Council does my bidding? Obviously you’re not a Tattler reader, nor are you paying attention to City Hall doings. The newest Tattler story directly refutes your allegation (see below). I’ll use this opportunity to illustrate another way Rob uses his blog to “protect” you against scary ideas that don’t tow his line: he will allow all links to stories from the reader/commenters but not if the link is to the Emeryville Tattler. You can test that for yourself. Then ask yourself if you should be stopped from making up your own mind or if you want to throw that over to Rob. How about others? Should they be allowed to make up their own minds of is it better if Robs stops that?
The newest story shows how the progressive Council majority will not be successful in forcing developers to provide affordability doing it their (new) way. If you want to read the Tattler story in question, you’ll have to Google the Tattler yourself. Here’s the lead-in to the story wherein I show the Council majority to be rubes (not the first time):
Last Tuesday, the City Council finally took up the problem of a flawed and overly lenient set of planning and zoning regulations that have heretofore allowed and even encouraged a plethora of overpriced for rent studio and one bedroom apartments to be built in Emeryville over the last several years. It’s been a problem the residents and even the developers themselves have been in agreement about: rents keep skyrocketing and something needs to be done about it. Tuesday, the Council finally did something about it….no link
Just read your article that Rob is supposedly protecting me from. Personally, I found it pretty pointless. You agree with everything the city council is doing to stifle the growth of much needed housing by making it even harder for developers to build. You want to take their extreme position even further by making the fees even higher. You’re not disagreeing with the city, you’re calling and raising their extremism.
BTW, nice job trying to use Rob’s large readership to get some traffic on your site. You’ll notice Rob doesn’t do that on your blog.
“Get some traffic to [my] site”? Really? Notice anything different about the Tattler? See any advertising there? Unlike the E’Ville Eye and other commercial sites, the Tattler doesn’t survive on clicks…in fact they don’t matter at all. So your charge is baseless. Rob’s site thrives on click bait…hence the crime blotter and restaurant reviews, perennially favorites. If I wanted to drive up clicks, that’s what I’d do. The Tattler is about the Emeryville commons from the resident’s perspective (as opposed to the business community’s ).
Re ‘stifling [residential] growth’: Why does Emeryville need more of this kind of market rate growth? Please inform us. BTW My position is so extreme that I think developers should only be allowed to build residential projects if they quantifiably (measurably) don’t make our town worse. Looked at over the arc of the last 25 years in Emeryville THAT is extreme all right. So go ahead and tell us why we need to always get measurably worse over time in our town. What’s the over riding principal that brings you to that position? Is it development is wonderful for its own sake?
Brian, NEITHER of us are journalists and despite your persistence, I’ve never claimed to be. But let me give you some advice if you want to build an audience and maintain credibility. This might help you stop your fleeing readership:
1). Don’t Lie.
2). Get actual quotes from people and use them in context.
3). Cite and link to your sources and use data from reputable sites.
4). Don’t copy+paste entire articles from other sources into your own blog (This is infringement).
5). Don’t troll other blogs
6). Don’t Bully or Harass people.
7). Don’t censor your commenters
It takes more than a big vocabulary, strong opinions and creativity to keep people coming back. They’ll eventually tune you out if they can no longer trust what they are reading.
I’ll provide you more tips if I think of them but I hope these help.
Cheers!
Tips from Rob; the guy that doesn’t know how to use the word ‘alleged’. Not worth much.
The Tattler is about Emeryville from Brian’s perspective, not the residents’. You are not the voice of the residents. Your RULE group is a very small, very homogeneous, and very unrepresentative portion of Emeryville’s population. Your views align with RULE and the RULE contingent of city council but not the residents.
And just so maybe you’ll stop saying it, your ‘quantifiably better/worse’ argument isn’t meaningful in any way. If you believe the Bay Area needs housing because of skyrocketing rents, then adding one unit is ‘quantifiably better’. If you choose different metrics that opposes development then the same change will be ‘quantifiably worse’. As with many of your arguments, it only works if the people reading it assume the criteria you lay out are the only ones available.
The EvilleEye is ‘quantifiably better’ because it has more readers. Or it’s ‘quantifiable worse’ because it has more advertisers. See how easy it is to prove nothing?
Fox News is better because it has more viewers, right?
RULE is the voice of Emeryville residents. How do we know that? RULE candidates not only always win elections, they win in landslides. The E’Ville Eye/right wing business contingent doesn’t have the perspective of Emeryville residents or their backing….the election results prove it. Every single RULE candidate won last time because Emeryville residents agree with RULE. Every election before the last one has been the same. RULE wins the support of the residents. Ask Rob. He himself said it; RULE is the kingmaker of Emeryville.
Emeryville has built more than twice our share of market rate housing in the Bay Area. Who agrees with me? The whole Association of Bay Area Governments. Who disagrees? You, other right wingers and developers who want to make a buck off us. We’re not going to keep building unless the developers start delivering better projects. The days of monster profits in Emeryville are gone. We’re not gunna be a sacrifice zone to satiate some right wing meme anymore. Sorry Mr Right Winger, that’s the way it’s gunna be.
Swing and a miss with respect to the point. I like how you use emotional catch phrases like “Fox News” and “right wing”. You managed to say “right wing” four times in one post, so you really must be losing the argument this time. Does this rhetorical gimmick ever work with anyone?
So, you’re saying RULE and Brian Donahue are the champions of “perspective”? I don’t know how to respond to that other than Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha…and Ha.
Emeryville will fix the RULE problem at the next election. In 2015, for the first time, we really got to see what RULE and Brian Donahue are all about.
We’ve learned our lesson, and we’ll never do it again.
‘2015 we got to see what RULE and Brian Donahue is about for the first time?’ Sorry Bub. Reality crashes into that:
2009-RULE candidate Jennifer West wins the election with the most votes.
2011- RULE candidate Jac Asher wins the election with the most votes.
2014-RULE candidate Dianne Martinez wins the election with the most votes.
2014- RULE candidate Scott Donahue wins the election with the second most votes.
2014-RULE candidate Christian Patz wins the election with the second most votes.
It looks like the lesson learned by everyone (except you) is RULE candidates are really good.
And I’ve lived in Emeryville for 36 years and been politically active the whole time. In 2002 (+-), I led a drive to craft our Tree Ordinance. It was my idea and I had to fight the entire City Council on that one but I prevailed. Now our street trees aren’t being cut down with each new development project like they were before. Now they’re being protected. What have YOU done for our town?
And for the record, I just responded to someone who typed “Ha Ha Ha Ha…”
Oops! I forgot:
2014- RULE candidate John Affeldt wins the election with the most votes.
Nope, we didn’t get to see what RULE was all about until they had a city council majority. There’s a big difference between one person in the minority and a group of three voting as a block.
I believe you like the phrase “power corrupts”. For the first time, as your timeline points out, RULE has power, and we now get to evaluate how well it controls itself in the presence of that corrupting influence. As far as I can see, it has no control whatsoever. That self-certainty that seems to define the group results in actions that are at best unreasonable and poorly executed and at worse reckless.
We see the flow of city staff out the doors. We see a city council closing down discourse with the residents. We see union interests taking precedence over local interests. We see residential development stopped in its tracks. We see a planning commission and the other advisory committees ignored. We see the highest minimum wage in the country implemented without local support overnight.
The city council is no longer balancing public interests. The city is now entirely about what three people want, the rest of the community be damned.
For the first time, we are seeing what RULE is all about.
So what you’re telling us you don’t pay attention and you’re ignorant (but you’ve got a loud opinion). Good luck with that.
Every RULE candidate has run on a progressive platform. Every RULE member has governed on that platform. You and other right wingers don’t like it, we understand. Thankfully, you’re in the minority.
As I said, we are seeing what RULE is all about.