Nordstrom will reopen most Oregon stores Thursday – but not in downtown Portland

PORTLAND — Upscale retailer Nordstrom plans to reopen five Oregon stores next week, but not its flagship store in downtown Portland.

Nordstrom said it will reopen its store at the Washington Square mall in Tigard and four Nordstrom Rack discount stores in Beaverton, Clackamas, Eugene and Portland. The stores closed in March, during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown allowed most retailers to stay open throughout the pandemic, but boutiques were among those required to close in March. The governor lifted that order last month but Nordstrom, and a number of other prominent retailers, didn’t immediately reopen.

Nordstrom, which closed it’s only Clark County store in January 2015, says it will take precautions to keep staff and customers safe, screening employees for coronavirus symptoms, providing face coverings for workers and shoppers, increasing cleaning inside the stores and requiring people inside the store to remain six feet from one another.

Nordstrom announced last month that its Clackamas Town Center store is among 16 the Seattle-based retailer plans to close permanently. That store is due to shut down permanently in August; it’s not clear whether it will reopen for a brief period before then.

Nordstrom’s downtown Portland store overlooks Pioneer Courthouse Square, near the heart of the city’s racial justice protests now well into the second week. The protests have disrupted downtown shopping and some stores — including the Apple Store and a Target — were looted during the chaotic initial protests.

The Apple Store had reopened shortly before the protests began and is now closed indefinitely.