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REMAKING RETAIL Nordstrom’s Olivia Kim wants shopping to be an experience, not just a transaction.

Retailers are on a constant quest for cool, and thanks to dynamic fashion fanatic Olivia Kim, few are succeeding more than the Seattle-based, century-old chain Nordstrom. Raised in New York, the 38-year-old merchandise maven spent 10 years working with retailers-turned-designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon of Opening Ceremony before being snagged by Pete Nordstrom, co-president and director of his family's enterprise. Understanding that in order for his business to stay relevant and grow, he needed new customers, Nordstrom gave Kim the title of director of creative projects in 2013. Since then, she's made her mark with a number of conceptual marketing initiatives, including Pop-Ins, monthly shopping experiences in some of the company's flagship stores that offer an eclectic array of merchandise from emerging labels to collectible art to luxury pieces. Credited with a knack for seeking out unpredictable things, Kim is especially excited about Nordstrom's recent foray into Canada (stores are already in Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver, and two more open this fall in Toronto). I spoke with Kim from her home base in Seattle recently about how she determines what's cool, what creates a great in-store experience and why she thinks brick-and-mortar retail will never go away.

When you were first offered this job, what was it that intrigued you?

When I first met Pete about four years ago, we had a conversation that was so easygoing. He focused on all the things that they wanted to be working on, which I thought was a really humbling thing. He said, "We want to focus on the younger customer, driving more customers to our stores, creating these unique experiences…" He was interested in not only the business side of what fashion and retail are, but about this very experiential quality – this emotional side of it. I felt like it would be a really unique platform for me to try to do what I do in a way that felt much more democratic. I love that Nordstrom is very generational shopping: You can shop with your mom or with your grandmother.

You're seen as the acid test for what's hot. Maybe it's just gut instinct, but you seem to know what the next big thing is going to be. Does it feel daunting to be responsible for predicting what will be popular?

I don't know that I'm necessarily holding a crystal ball or that there's a formula to what I think is cool. I think you nailed it when you said it's a gut instinct. I make a lot of mistakes though. I certainly don't consider myself a cool person; I am just a very curious person. I spend a lot of time talking not only with my team, but with other people in the company and customers. I'm always on the floor so I take all of that, process it and try to spit something out that seems interesting and cool to a majority of people. I don't know that the pressure is daunting, but it's certainly exciting.

I'm sure there are young people across North America who are looking to you and thinking, "Wow! How do I get that kind of job?" How do you explain how you landed in this wonderful space?

My biggest bit of advice for anybody interested in trying to have some sort of impact in fashion is that you have to absolutely love what you're doing and you can't be afraid of making mistakes. And you can't be afraid to put yourself out there, especially as a woman. I spend as much time [as I can] with a lot of our upcoming leaders as possible. I just came back from a trip to Southern California where I met with a bunch of retail interns in our store. All I could say to them is, "I don't have an exact career path for you. But love what you do, keep in touch with me, write me all the time and ask me any questions." I've kept in touch with a lot of people via Instagram or by email or text. I think that it's not conventional, but who wants conventional?

You have been responsible for bringing in some unconventional new labels that aren't what you'd usually associate with Nordstrom. How do you decide who these hot designers are going to be?

I don't know that I'm always making the right choices about what to bring in and whether our customers will respond to it, but I think it's my job to support emerging designers and to create a place where they can develop and build a viable business. That's something that we really focus on in Pop-In and Space – Nordstrom's in-store boutiques that feature new labels and complete looks. We'll often find designers that have never sold or wholesaled before or don't even know how to make an invoice, let alone ship to a distribution centre. We spend a lot of time trying to help them understand what customers are responding to and help make their business a bigger one. That's what I think my responsibility is in terms of supporting these younger designers: To give them an environment that makes sense for them as a brand and they're proud to be a part of.

With Nordstrom's foray into this country, are you trying to give young Canadian labels a platform?

Definitely. With the opening of the store in Toronto's Eaton Centre, we're launching a Canadian capsule with four to five Canadian designers who have done something for us exclusively, which we're really excited about. We really want to celebrate Canadian fashion designers. One of them is Vejas [Kruszewski], of Vejas, who was most recently an LVMH finalist, and we're working with Brother Vellies (the footwear label helmed by Toronto native Aurora James). We're also partnering with the [Vancouver-born] jewellery designer Wing Yau of Wwake who is developing a special capsule for us.

There are so many retailers struggling to survive. Macy's is going to be closing about 100 stores. And their CEO Terry Lundgren recently said there's just too much retail space around. How do you feel about that?

I can't comment on what anyone else is doing, but we're really focused on creating amazing in-store experiences that are drawing customers and exciting them. I'm not necessarily interested in making sure that somebody buys something every single time they're in our store. I want them to have an incredible connection with the salesperson, have something fun to eat and maybe consider us for the next time that they do want to make a purchase. We're also doing the same things online and I think that it's important that our online experience mirrors our in-store experience and vice versa. We want to provide more content and become more aspirational and inspiring.

What are you most looking forward to in this next chapter for retail?

I'm not a huge believer in the see now, buy now, wear now moment. I think that there is something that I still love about this old-school mentality, where you see it on the runway and you have to wait a little while for it. But I do think that there is some validity in the fact that stores are changing and so we need to adapt to it. I've been thinking a lot about this idea of just living in these moments, because everyone's moving so fast. Everybody is telling us, "Next, next, next!" and so right now, I'm trying to figure out how to slow it down a little and to be able to wear this coat that I just bought for a season longer!

This interview has been condensed and edited.

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