Anchorage’s Nordstrom closes its doors for the last time

Updated: September 14, 2019 Published: September 14, 2019

Nordstrom employee Jackalynne Smith is photographed near the store's front entrance on its last day of business. Nordstrom department store closed permanently in downtown Anchorage on Sept. 13, 2019. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Nordstrom employees and customers gathered for a final toast of sparkling cider by the escalators on Friday. At 5 p.m., the downtown Anchorage department store closed for good. People lingered on the corner of 6th Avenue and D Street to take pictures and reminisce about the retailer that had been an upscale clothing staple since 1975. Other incoming customers were turned away by security and informed of its new permanent status. Employees then filled the entryway as the doors were locked one last time. In the store’s back alley, the Nordstrom lettering had already been removed from the top of its three-story south-facing wall.

A woman exits the Nordstrom main entrance after 5 p.m., when the store closed for good. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Glacier Sign workers Jason Welle, left, and Tommy Clark remove the lettering from the Nordstrom department store on its last day. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Nordstrom employees, from left, Justin Sangalang, Jackalynne Smith, Vave Graf and Asey Fowlis look at pictures they took outside the store on its last day in business. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Employees gather in the entryway as the store is locked a final time. (Marc Lester / ADN)

[A trip to downtown Nordstrom was a fixture of Anchorage life for 44 years. Now, it’s going away.]

[Nordstrom closure will leave a big retail hole in downtown Anchorage. It’s not clear yet what will fill it.]

[Nordstrom will close its downtown Anchorage store]

Marc Lester

Marc Lester is a multimedia journalist for Anchorage Daily News. Contact him at mlester@adn.com.