Nordstrom Slammed By Shoppers For Limited Plus-Sized Selection

Nordstrom was under fire Tuesday after shoppers complained about the limited offerings within its newly launched plus-sized selection. A customer shared pictures on Twitter Oct. 29 following her experience shopping for plus-size items at a branch of the store in Brea, California. She claimed that Nordstrom's selection was "unfortunate," which led others to share their thoughts on the matter.

The retailer reportedly announced their plans to expand upon its current plus-size offerings after the success in sales from Khloé Kardashian's Good American line, a denim brand that is carried at Nordstrom. The department store capitalized off of the success, which led to the opening of its new Century City location in Los Angeles — the location was set to include extended sizes of denim wear from its brand partners. The all-inclusive expansion carried over to other stores nationwide, including the Brea Nordstrom. The Brea location, however, received backlash on Twitter for its apparent lacking selection.

"It's unfortunate that a big brand like Nordstrom's plus size formal dress section is this small compared to 'regular' sizes," one user wrote in an Oct. 29 tweet alongside pictures of Nordstrom's seemingly minuscule plus-size selection.

Nordstrom didn't catch wind of the Twitter complaint until Nov. 9, saying: "We're sorry you're disappointed."

"Thanks for the info. Our in-store Manager at the Brea, CA location is aware of this matter," Nordstrom said in a Nov. 11 tweet. "If you'd like to connect with her directly, please don't hesitate to DM us with your best method of contact."

Other Twitter users complained that "all their stores are like that" or that there was "very little selection of anything plus sized."

"We're sorry we disappointed the customer who tweeted about her experience at our Brea store. We have varying levels of formalwear in plus sizes in our stores," Pamela Lopez, Nordstrom's PR director, told International Business Times Wednesday. "We know there’s an opportunity to have a more robust plus-size formalwear selection in some of our stores and we’re working on it."

Added Lopez, "We're always happy to connect customers to a personal stylist who can bring in merchandise from any of our stores and Nordstrom.com so customers can continue to visit their local store for all their shopping needs."

The retailer confirmed in October that it will work towards adding more options and variety to its existing plus-size and petite selections, both in-store and online. Nordstrom asked its brands to add more zeros, 2's, 14's, 16's and 18's. Participating brands initially included Topshop, Rag & Bone, Madewell, Caslon and Halogen. The size selection and brands will also expand by Spring 2018 to 15 additional stores.

"Our customers have been asking for a broader range of sizes on both sides of the spectrum – the zeros and 2's and beyond size 12," Tricia Smith, Nordstrom's executive vice president and general merchandise manager, said in an October press release. "We recognize the opportunity to serve customers better by having more sizes. Style and fashion apply to everyone. They're not created for a limited group of sizes."

"We don't view being size inclusive any differently than the need to be more inclusive across the board—whether it's ethnicity, size or body type. In our opinion, petite and plus sizes shouldn't be considered special categories. They're just sizes," Smith added.

Nordstrom has 357 stores in 40 states nationwide. Founded as shoe retailer in 1901, the Seattle-based department store giant, was valued at $7.4 billion in May.

This story has been updated to include a comment from Nordstrom.