Is Your Size Sold at Nordstrom?

As many of you may know, I’ll often recommend checking out Nordstrom to those of us in the U.S. who are looking for bras outside of the very small range that is usually offered in most department stores. I’ve never seen Nordstrom carry 28 bands in store, but I’ve generally felt safe recommending them to those of us who might need 30 bands.

However, in my past several visits to Nordstrom, I’ve noticed that the selection of bras that they actually carry in 30 bands is rather small – smaller that it used to be. After my most recent visit to Nordstrom, the number of 30 bands was scarce enough that I, along with and at the urging of Sarah of StackDD, decided to email them to see if I could get an idea of where they stood in regards to stocking smaller bands (both 30’s and 28’s), and their reasoning behind their stance.

I basically noted in my email that “I find it difficult to ever find more than a choice or two for 30 bands at Nordstrom stores – for example, I was with a friend who needed a 30E (not a “strange” size at all), and I could not find her any options at Nordstrom. The assistant at my last visit excused this by saying that ‘Whenever we have 30 bands, they sell out because they’re so popular.’ If smaller band sizes are so popular that your stores cannot seem to even keep them in stock, then why not make it a priority to stock more?”

In Sarah’s case, her concerns were addressed more directly, but Nordstrom’s first response back to me was a mostly canned one:

Dear Christine,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Our customers’ opinions are very important to Nordstrom and greatly assist us with our continued efforts to provide the best merchandise and service to our customers.

I completely sympathize with you-I wear a 30F, which is difficult to find in the stores. Rest assured I will share your feedback, so that we may learn and improve. Should you have any further concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I hope the above information proves useful when shopping with Nordstrom in the future.

Regards,

Cory
Customer Service Specialist
Nordstrom

Not satisfied with this, I sent another email noting that they really hadn’t addressed any of my concerns in their reply, and I rephrased my questions – mainly, why is it that Nordstrom doesn’t stock any 28 bands and only a few 30 bands, especially when I’ve heard fitters say that small bands sell out quickly?

The second response was more enlightening:

So, it seems as though Nordstrom has attempted to stock more bras with 30-bands in the past (this seems to line up with my impression that I used to be able to find more 30-bands there several years ago), but there was simply not enough demand and/or sales of these bras, so they felt the need to cut back. Currently, the only bras that I’ve really been able to reliably find at Nordstrom stores in a 30 band have been the Freya Deco, and more recently, the Taylor and Ashlee (I’ve seen a few others, but these are the main ones). I’ve not seen every cup size offered in each of these bras, either.