Friday, August 10, 2007

Nordstrom's (ads) come to Boston

Better yet, Nordstrom's is coming to Boston. And I'm truly and honestly looking forward to it.

The free lance life - quite blessedly - does not require the purchase of the amount of clothing that the full-time corporate life used to. Still, once a shopper....

And if you're going to be a shopper, Nordstrom's is a pretty good place to shop.

I like Nordstrom's because they carry shoes in my width. Normally, I order shoes online. But I can go into a Nordstrom's with pretty high confidence that they will have some selection in 10 AAA.

I like Nordstrom's because the racks aren't so jammed together that you feel like you're going through the brushes at the car wash when you try to move around.

I like Nordstrom's because the service is so good - from little things like the clerk walking around the counter to hand you your shopping bag, rather than having you have to lift it down from the counter, to bigger things like taking care of emergencies and treating them like emergencies. Years ago, I traveled to Seattle with a colleague whose bag was lost. We had an afternoon call, and stopped first thing at Nordstrom's where they kitted Scott out - including some minor tailoring - in a couple of hours.

Everyone I know who shops at Nordstrom's has a similar "great service" story.

But in addition to being a Nordstrom's fan, I'm a crank. And an occasional obsessor. And an occasional literalist. And a cranky occasional obsessor literalist.

Which is why the very arty ad that I saw for the Nordstrom's that's opening soon in Natick, just outside Boston, drives me nuts.

Yes, I know it's artistic license, but the city scape depicted in the ad bears no relationship to the actual cityscape of the city of Boston.

It's got all the right elements. It's just that they're so jumbled up, they make no sense.

The buildings on the pier (i.e., the ocean waterfront) are on the Charles River.

The Zakim Bridge looks great, but just where is it supposed to be in relation to the rest of Boston.

And that thing that sort of looks like the statehouse. It also sort of looks like the Christian Science mother church. The statehouse's golden dome is, well, gold.

And what's that curvy thing. Is it supposed to be Harvard Stadium? Or is it supposed to be someplace in Natick.

The ad, by the way, is very nice to look at. Unfortunately, I am a crank, and an occasional obsessor nit-picking literalist.

The ad hurts my head.

I wish it were supposed to be of someplace other than Boston. Then it wouldn't hurt my head so much.

P.S. I'm still looking forward to Nordstrom's coming to town. I really am.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love Nordstroms. It's one of the few things that will make me actually go to the Galleria here in Houston. After shopping there, going into a Macy's or similar department store feels like being mugged. Yes, it costs more. But they have a number of high-value items, like their never-iron pants that last forever.