Nordstrom Rack may join hot trend in retail spin-offs

According to insiders, Nordstrom has hired the business consultancy AlixPartners to help consider a spin-off of the company's off-price Nordstrom Rack chain. Management has recently expressed discontent with Rack's performance and failure to recover from the pandemic downturn, pointing to a merchandising mix short on the number of top brands customers have grown to expect at Nordstrom. While Rack's net sales in the most recently-reported quarter grew 35 percent vs.  year-ago, that was 8 percent lower than the same quarter in 2019.