Tips for Navigating the Nordstrom Rack

January 5, 10:19 PMDallas Shopping ExaminerQuia Querisma

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Overstock of Donna Rico dresses
end up at the Rack when the
season is over. Photo courtesy of
Nordstrom. 

I'm the first to tell you that I think presentation is everything. However, these are desperate times and the wardrobe will not fall victim to this recession.

Generally, I prefer to browse Rue La La, Shop It To Me, and I am also pretty lucky at Express. However, my dear friend Arisha, who stays in designer denim, is a die hard advocate of the Nordstrom Rack. She and a college friend even came up with a song about it.

If you've never been to the Rack, think Marshall's with Tory Burch, L.A.M.B., DVF, Michael Kors, Citizens of Humanity and Manolo Blahnik amid the melee instead of the usual mall fare.

The dashing ladies of West Plano hit the Rack early so by the time clueless people like myself stroll in, not only is it utter chaos in the racks, all the real steals in "skinny b***h" sizes are gone. There was even a point I browsed the shoe section looking for a pair of Coach flats and seeing Pradas and Blahniks out of their boxes and sometimes without mates distressed me and I left.

My friend offered to escort me through the Rack this past weekend and we both emerged victorious. So I offer you my lessons learned for discount designer splendor:

1) Arrive early: As I stated before, women in the know hit this place shortly after it opens so they have the pick of the litter.

2) Contemporary denim means premium denim: I'm a mall veteran so contemporary denim meant stuff in the junior's dept as far as I knew. But at Nordstrom, that means Rock & Republic, 7 for All Mankind, Paper Denim Cloth, William Rast, True Religion and a host of other labels that command over $200 at full price.

3) Go through all the racks: People hide things. Ideally you would look for a size 27 in the rack that says 23-29 but I found two 27s I liked in the 30-33 rack.

4) Wear cute underwear: There are between 8-10 private dressing rooms, but if you are doing volume and plan to return to the sales floor to find more stuff to try on, brave up and go for the presentation area with the mirrors. It's a bit of an alcove so you're not in plain view from the door of the dressing room. It was was tough at first, but the worst that happened was that I showed off my cute, Juicy Couture underwear.

5) Stalk the dressing room castoffs: Shoppers are allowed to take up to 10 items into the dressing room and when they don't work out they are put into a room to be organized before returning to the floor. Don't be afraid to ask the attendant about something that catches your eye back there.

6) Shop in pairs: Like Marshall's and the like, the lines can be painfully long (and slow) so take turns standing in line with your friend so you can peruse the nearby accessories for last-minute deals.

7) Focus on the deal: It was still very distressing to me to see all of those lovely designer items tossed around by shoppers like we were at a flea market, but considering that I only paid $47 for a pair of William Rast jeans with crystal embellishments on the pocket (after a $50 gift card), I was cool.