Nordstrom’s ‘glow-up’: How going private is helping the retailer thrive as Saks Global languishes

If Pete Nordstrom has a pep in his step as he gives a tour of his family’s luxury department store flagship in Manhattan, it’s because he is starting to see signs that his executive team’s efforts to rejuvenate the 125-year-old retailer are working.

As he walks the store’s street-level floor, he proudly shows off the recent overhaul of the beauty section: While Nordstrom still offers the decades-old department store counter service, it has added a lot of the self-service, discovery-centered...