The Retail Thread

[maccoinnich]

Spanish fashion brand opens first Oregon store in downtown Portland



Spanish fashion brand Mango has opened its first Oregon location, and another might soon be on the way.

The Barcelona-based fast-fashion retailer opened a new store in downtown Portland’s Pioneer Place mall last week. Mango’s Portland location will exclusively sell items from the brand’s women’s clothing line, according to the release.

Mango first launched in the United States in 2006, opening its flagship store in New York City in 2022. This was the beginning of the international brand’s U.S. expansion plan, which aims to turn the U.S. into one of the company’s top three markets.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[Derek]

I’m not sure what the solution is, but I wish the city/Pioneer Place would do more to encourage the retail locations that are on the street level to have entrances accessible from the street.

[Sioux612]

I’m waiting for something to happen with the Nordstrom building.

Such a prime location for high density residential.

[maccoinnich]

It's not a great building—but at this point, the best thing for downtown is for Nordstom to stay there. Were they to leave, the likely fate of the building would be for it to sit empty for many years.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by Derek

I’m not sure what the solution is, but I wish the city/Pioneer Place would do more to encourage the retail locations that are on the street level to have entrances accessible from the street.

Absolutely, that would really enliven the streets around there.

Re: the Nordstrom building.. the store is still open right?

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Absolutely, that would really enliven the streets around there.

Re: the Nordstrom building.. the store is still open right?

It is, went to the 3rd floor cafe for lunch a couple weeks ago and the store was fairly busy.

[babs]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Absolutely, that would really enliven the streets around there.

Re: the Nordstrom building.. the store is still open right?

That's highly unlikely to happen. The perception of theft if they add street entrances likely eliminates that option.

[colossalorder]

Good lord. I hope no one is cheering for the death of downtown Nordstrom. We have plenty of surface parking lots and vacant commercial buildings available for building high density residential downtown. As far as I know, the downtown San Francisco Nordstrom that closed is still sitting empty. I'm sure that would be the case in Portland as well. Whether you shop there or not (and I don't), it brings some life to downtown.

[babs]

Originally Posted by colossalorder

Good lord. I hope no one is cheering for the death of downtown Nordstrom. We have plenty of surface parking lots and vacant commercial buildings available for building high density residential downtown. As far as I know, the downtown San Francisco Nordstrom that closed is still sitting empty. I'm sure that would be the case in Portland as well. Whether you shop there or not (and I don't), it brings some life to downtown.

Nordstrom closing would send shockwaves throughout the real estate industry. Not only would it sit there empty but it would also scare off real estate developers. The impact of Nordstrom's closure would be far-reaching and would set back downtown for years. I hope Mayor Wilson calls Nordstrom's HQ regularly to check up on how things are going. Portland and Oregon's government doesn't seem to do much proactive economic development.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by colossalorder

Good lord. I hope no one is cheering for the death of downtown Nordstrom. We have plenty of surface parking lots and vacant commercial buildings available for building high density residential downtown. As far as I know, the downtown San Francisco Nordstrom that closed is still sitting empty. I'm sure that would be the case in Portland as well. Whether you shop there or not (and I don't), it brings some life to downtown.

Oh yeah I’m absolutely not hoping for that, I just got scared from that post about redevelopment there, ha! The store certainly could use an exterior remodel, but it definitely is an anchor for downtown retail. Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that Lloyd Center Nordstrom closed years ago, likely pushing more shopping traffic downtown.

Nice to see Mango opening in Pioneer Place before additional store(s in the suburbs.

[maccoinnich]

In other retail news, the temporary Ben Bridge store is now under construction in the Jackson Tower, with a summer 2025 opening date. Apparently it will be open for about a year, while the existing Ben Bridge store in the Pacific Building is expanded and remodeled. David Yurman is also under construction in Pioneer Place. While neither are anywhere near as large as Nordstrom, those are good signs for the future of high end retail in downtown.

After missing the MAX last night, I took a walk through Pioneer Place, and it was busier than I'd noticed it being in a long time (Din Tai Fung especially looked very busy). It definitely needs some more stores to be thriving, but it's possible to imagine how it could be. I really hope someone is busy trying to recruit Uniqlo.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by babs

Nordstrom closing would send shockwaves throughout the real estate industry. Not only would it sit there empty but it would also scare off real estate developers. The impact of Nordstrom's closure would be far-reaching and would set back downtown for years. I hope Mayor Wilson calls Nordstrom's HQ regularly to check up on how things are going. Portland and Oregon's government doesn't seem to do much proactive economic development.

I think you are over thinking it, if Nordstrom closed its downtown location, it would be because Nordstrom went under and are closing all of their stores. The major down side for their building is what you see is what it is, no additional floors can be added to it and the building itself can't be repurposed for anything other than a downtown department store. So if the store were to ever close, it would most likely sit vacant until another department store opened up in it or it was torn down to redevelop the site.

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

In other retail news, the temporary Ben Bridge store is now under construction in the Jackson Tower, with a summer 2025 opening date. Apparently it will be open for about a year, while the existing Ben Bridge store in the Pacific Building is expanded and remodeled. David Yurman is also under construction in Pioneer Place. While neither are anywhere near as large as Nordstrom, those are good signs for the future of high end retail in downtown.

After missing the MAX last night, I took a walk through Pioneer Place, and it was busier than I'd noticed it being in a long time (Din Tai Fung especially looked very busy). It definitely needs some more stores to be thriving, but it's possible to imagine how it could be. I really hope someone is busy trying to recruit Uniqlo.

Uniqlo really missed their golden opportunity with Portland, back in the 2000s when they first started expanding in the US and opening up in mostly suburban malls, they should have put one in downtown Portland because it would have been a hipster magnet and probably would have been one of their busiest stores. Back then, I basically had to stock up on clothes from Uniqlo whenever I visited NYC. I would always have to buy a cheap suitcase when I was there because I would buy so much. Heck, I still have a lot of clothes from those trips.

[ThatDarnSacramentan]

I couldn't seem to find information online about this, but I have a vague recollection of a PSU design professor telling us that Nordstrom was originally designed to be the base of a skyscraper. If that's the case, maybe there's still some room for some adaptive reuse above.

[colossalorder]

I'm really baffled by the focus on Nordstrom. Its hard to fall in love with the building but its a beating heart in a struggling city. If ain't broke ...

If you want to build skyscraper residential in that area, take out the Galleria parking structure. Or better yet, look on google maps at the 12 blocks between Yamhill and Main and 9th and 13th. Visually, it looks to me like about half of that rectangle is surface parking lots or multi-level parking lots. Think of all the housing units that could fill in there and connect neighborhoods. Lets sacrifice parking lots, not retail, to build residential.

Meanwhile, there is this story that does not bode well for retail recovery in Portland. File under doom loop.
https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2025/04/...l-climate-tax-to-plug-citys-budget-hole/

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by ThatDarnSacramentan

I couldn't seem to find information online about this, but I have a vague recollection of a PSU design professor telling us that Nordstrom was originally designed to be the base of a skyscraper. If that's the case, maybe there's still some room for some adaptive reuse above.

Your memory might be a bit foggy, if it is the architecture professor I am thinking of, they once advised Nordstrom to build the building in a way that it could function as the base for a taller building in the future but they decided against that and built a building that can't be added to without basically building a new building. It was Rudy Barton that told us about this.

[maccoinnich]

If I were to do something with the Nordstrom building, it would be to remodel the top floor to add a rooftop bar and restaurant.

The top floor was added to the 1978 building in the 1988, as office space for buyers. Not long afterwards, those jobs were centralized in Seattle, and today the floor is mostly unused. It has great views over Pioneer Courthouse square and towards the river.

The biggest challenge is that the only access to the top floor is through the third floor of Nordstroom, so for it to function as a restaurant (or any other use independent of Nordstrom) the lower floors would need to be remodeled to create a separate entrance and new elevator up to the top floor.

[ThatDarnSacramentan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Your memory might be a bit foggy, if it is the architecture professor I am thinking of, they once advised Nordstrom to build the building in a way that it could function as the base for a taller building in the future but they decided against that and built a building that can't be added to without basically building a new building. It was Rudy Barton that told us about this.

It was Rudy! Good memory. You're right, I remembered the first part of the story and not the second part.

What a great professor he was. Ran into him at City of Possibilities last month.

[uncommon.name]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

In other retail news, the temporary Ben Bridge store is now under construction in the Jackson Tower, with a summer 2025 opening date. Apparently it will be open for about a year, while the existing Ben Bridge store in the Pacific Building is expanded and remodeled. David Yurman is also under construction in Pioneer Place. While neither are anywhere near as large as Nordstrom, those are good signs for the future of high end retail in downtown.

After missing the MAX last night, I took a walk through Pioneer Place, and it was busier than I'd noticed it being in a long time (Din Tai Fung especially looked very busy). It definitely needs some more stores to be thriving, but it's possible to imagine how it could be. I really hope someone is busy trying to recruit Uniqlo.

I wonder if Washington Square being at capacity, we will see more stores driven to Pioneer Place. It seems some of our malls are seeing a resurgence, at least on the surface.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by ThatDarnSacramentan

It was Rudy! Good memory. You're right, I remembered the first part of the story and not the second part.

What a great professor he was. Ran into him at City of Possibilities last month.

Oh fun! That was such a great time when I went to that program. They were basically flying by the seat of their pants trying to make an non accredited program become accredited. Rudy and Nikola Boscanin were my favorites. Clive frustrated me to no end, but I learned a lot from him as well. I can't remember his name, but the one who was a quadriplegic was also a great teacher because he taught us how to look at design for everyone.

[babs]

Originally Posted by uncommon.name

I wonder if Washington Square being at capacity, we will see more stores driven to Pioneer Place. It seems some of our malls are seeing a resurgence, at least on the surface.

Will considering that Mango is also opening at Washington Square within days and I have a strong feeling that the Forever 21 space will likely be a Uniqlo, I don't your scenario happening.