Tesla Opens A ‘Boutique’ Inside A Nordstrom Store

Image courtesy of Nordstrom via Fast Company

This weekend, electric car maker Tesla will open its latest showroom in California in an unexpected place: inside a Nordstrom department store. Sure, there are Tesla stores in malls, but a mini-store that sells actual cars inside a department store is a new development. Even if the store doesn’t actually sell any cars.

Upscale mall The Grove in Los Angeles is exactly the type of shopping center where you might expect to find a regular Tesla store, but instead the luxury car brand is experimenting with a partnership with Nordstrom.

The 400-square-foot mini store will sell shoppers on Teslas, but can’t actually sell them any cars. The employees on site will show off a Model X SUV, and there will be cars available outdoors so customers can go on a test drive.

However, since the store doesn’t yet have a license to sell automobiles, shoppers will have to head online, or arrange their actual purchase through the nearest licensed standalone Tesla store five miles away.

The mini-store will be in place for the rest of 2016, and Tesla may or may not expand to other stores. Putting one in every Nordstrom across the country would almost double their network of retail stores.

Tesla Plans to Sell Its Electric Cars At Nordstrom [Fast Company]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.