Will Nordstrom need to refurbish its image after selling used shoes in its Rack stores? That's the question now that CNBC has reported that Nordstrom is taking returned and otherwise worn shoes from its department stores and sending them to its outlets for resale.
Buying the shoes labeled "worn and refinished" at the Rack means that consumers will get a deal compared to buying them in a full-line Nordstrom.
"On a perception level, it turns you into a junk store, a second-hand clothing store. And that is something that now calls into question Nordstrom's reputation as a first-rate, quality high-end type of brand retailer," Robert Frankel, a branding expert, told CNBC.
Nordstrom Rack disputes that it is in someway selling inferior goods to consumers and asserts that having a second-hand, used or vintage tag is not necessarily a deterrent to sales.
In recent years, as CNBC reported in 2010, shops selling vintage fashions have thrived, in part because of the attention generated by celebrities such as Penelope Cruz, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker wearing items previously worn by someone else.
"If it is a high-end item being refurbished and it's definitely not being sold at its full-line stores, then it's fine if it's sold at the Rack," Edward Yruma, an analyst with Keybanc Capital Markets Research, told CNBC. "It is within the scope when you buy at the off-price channel."