Nordstrom Goals to Remodel Vacation Shopping From Frenetic to Fun

For the vacation 2026 season, Nordstrom‘s New York City flagship on 57th Street is taking a whimsical flip.

Across 5 promoting flooring, there’s a sprinkling of interactive shows — from large funhouse-type mirrors and gummy ball machines to a floating piano enjoying festive tunes and horns whispering present concepts in your ear.

But Nordstrom isn’t neglecting the extra conventional vacation parts. At the Manhattan flagship there’s a photograph op on the decrease stage children ground that’s a part of a traditional Christmas scene with reindeer, Santa’s sleigh and Christmas timber. There’s additionally a full program of Santa occasions, on the flagship and in any respect Nordstrom shops throughout the nation, together with free images for Nordstrom cardholders in addition to Storytime with Santa, Santa Breakfasts, and the Letters to Santa expertise.

Nordstrom is asking it’s festive vacation flagship the “Oh, What Funhouse!” It’s an integral a part of the retailer’s “Oh, What Fun!” vacation 2025 marketing campaign, which additionally includes streaming and social media and spotlights actor Kyle MacLachlan as “The Gift Expert,” with comic Atsuko Okatsuka, actor and author Caleb Hearon, and patternmaker and podcast host Recho Omondi. The marketing campaign was developed by Invisible Dynamics, a branding consultancy.

The flagship vacation expertise is conceived as “a playground” for kids and adults, to not solely stimulate the senses but in addition assist consumers give you present concepts. The 57th Street flagship’s vacation expertise runs by way of Jan. 5 and is replicated at Nordstrom’s flagship in Seattle, the place the lately turned-private firm is predicated.

“The holidays are often so stressful, so we asked ourselves how can we infuse some joy and fun, and a degree of unexpectedness to the season,” mentioned Olivia Kim, senior vice chairman of inventive at Nordstrom. “Creating a funhouse seemed like a natural play. I think that there’s something really approachable and unexpected, whimsical and fun when you think about that, and so we wanted to use our New York flagship as an opportunity to create this sensory playground, from what you see and what you smell, what you touch and what you taste, and really make it an interactive, fully immersive experience, and getting customers to visit through the entire store.”

Kim mentioned dressing up the shop for vacation was an enormous effort involving members of the visible, inventive and service provider groups in addition to a number of exterior companions serving to with the allowing and scaffolding. The exterior of the 57th Street entrance incorporates a tunnel illuminated by LED lights, framed with floating metallic letters spelling out “Oh, What Fun!” and a marquee-lit portal. The first ground options welcome stations the place clients obtain a “gift expert guide” that leads them by way of every activation, the place they will accumulate stickers and jot down notes on items.

Nordstrom’s two-level “Corner Shop,” located by the nook of Broadway and 57th, modifications each few months by way of the 12 months to showcase a distinct designer or model. Among these featured within the latest previous had been Marc Jacobs, Nike, Skims and New Balance. In February, the Corner Shop can be merchandised for Valentine’s Day. But now by way of Jan. 5, the area has been named “The Gift Shop at the Corner” and is merchandised with an intensive vacation assortment.

Nordstrom has beefed up its vacation providing to make it simpler for purchasers to seek out one thing and in lots of circumstances extra reasonably priced, and to be extra aggressive, significantly in a retail-saturated metropolis like New York. The technique appears designed, partly a minimum of, to attract a number of the buying and a spotlight away from rivals, significantly Macy’s Herald Square, which because of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the division retailer’s robust seasonal value promotions, has a status as a number one vacation spot for vacation buying.

The Nordstrom flagship, positioned at 225 West 57th Street, had a gradual begin when it opened in late October 2019, just some months earlier than the pandemic hit. It has been gaining gross sales and momentum. Recently, it unveiled a renovated magnificence ground and relocated equipment to the second ground.

Nordstrom’s Gift Shop on the Corner is the most important and most original model of the upscale division retailer’s vacation present retailers, which get rolled out to each Nordstrom location. The Gift Shop on the Corner is internet hosting particular activations and providing elevated providers comparable to The Gift Box Bar, the place clients can create a customized present field with their alternative of ribbons and charms. In addition, there’s a personalization station, a photograph sales space, and repair is supplied by Nordstrom’s “gift experts.” 

The Gift Shop’s expanded assortment on 57th Street consists of magnificence units, equipment, children’ attire, toys, video games, residence necessities, and loads of cozy kinds, together with robes, slippers, matching household pajama units and residential necessities. There are additionally lots of New York-centric objects, like snow globes and ornaments, even a New York City Marathon candle. Compared to years previous, the present store this 12 months leans heavier on inexpensive objects. Approximately 1,000 items are provided, with 90 p.c of them priced underneath $100, and 60 p.c priced underneath $50.

“We’ve been really intentional about letting customers know that we are a gifting destination, that we have gifts of all different categories, all different prices,” Kim mentioned.

The Nordstrom vacation catalog is greater this 12 months with nearly 100 pages — over 25 with toys and items for teenagers — and greater than 800 items in complete. The vacation assortment is even bigger on Nordstrom’s on-line market, the place there’s greater than 110,000 gifting choices and the place personalised suggestions are supplied by Nordstrom’s new AI “gift expert in training” function, the place you’ll be able to enter who you might be searching for and their preferences and hobbies. At its shops, Nordstrom will stage greater than 1,500 holiday-related occasions.

“We wanted to flip the script on traditional holiday shopping,” mentioned Kim. “‘Oh, What Funhouse!’ transforms the store into a surreal playground where gifting becomes instinctive, expressive and joyful. It’s about awakening the senses, embracing bold choices, and creating moments that feel unmistakably New York.”