Nordstrom, the department store building its first Tennessee location at The Mall at Green Hills, is looking for women and minority subcontractors to finish up the project.
The chain held an information session for those groups on Tuesday, and those who came learned about procedures that Nordstrom uses in selecting vendors in a bidding process.
The 142,000-square-foot store is scheduled to open Sept. 16, 2011, according to a press release.
“We’re looking for painters, electricians, drywall and those kinds of trades,” said Barbara Valdez, supplier diversity program director for Nordstrom.
“We want to create an even playing field and give opportunities to everyone and make sure that we’re inclusive of everyone on the project. It’s very important for us to create jobs in local economy and help businesses grow and to be part of the community early on.”
Preliminary construction for the store started in January.
Marilyn Robinson, director of the Nashville Minority Business Center, called Nordstrom’s efforts to reach out to women and minorities “progressive.”
“That’s a good business model,” said Robinson, who’s also president of the Nashville branch of the NAACP.
“This doesn’t happen often in Nashville. Typically, we have to advocate for diversity contracting.”
Posted By: Dante Lee
Wednesday, March 17th 2010 at 2:00PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
