An unlikely pair is collaborating in an advertising campaign: Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department store and Barney Greengrass, the iconic Upper West Side Jewish deli.
The famous deli — which was named to the New York Times list of 100 best restaurants in the city two years in a row — is spotlighted in Nordstrom’s “For Everything New York” campaign, which launched in May in honor of the department store’s fifth anniversary in the city. Images of a fashionable-looking woman and a small blonde child inside and outside the beloved deli can be seen in advertisements across the city as well as print, digital and social media.
In addition to Barney Greengrass, Nordstrom is also collaborating with other classic New York spots: Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Café Dante in the West Village and Casa Magazines, one of the last remaining magazine shops in the city, also in the West Village.
“Since opening our NYC Flagship in 2019, Nordstrom has been committed to offering our New York customers with the brands, products and services they expect from us,” Deniz Anders, Nordstrom’s chief marketing officer, said in a press release. “We hope this campaign serves as a gentle reminder to New Yorkers that we are here to help them for all their moments – from special occasions to their everyday needs. As part of the campaign, we are highlighting a few of our favorite local institutions as we get to know the community where our customers and employees live, work and spend their time.”
As part of the campaign, Nordstrom did photoshoots of models wearing the store’s clothes and doing what New Yorkers typically do at the featured locations, such as pointing out what type of smoked fish — Sturgeon? Nova? — they want at Barney Greengrass’ deli counter. The photographs were taken by Jewish New York street photographer Daniel Arnold.
A shot from Nordstrom’s Summer 2024 “For Everything New York Campaign” in collaboration with Barney Greengrass. (Daniel Arnold / Courtesy of Nordstrom)
They also filmed interviews with the stores’ owners, including Gary Greengrass, the third-generation owner of the classic Upper West Side restaurant, who gives a brief history of the 116-year-old Jewish deli.
“We’ve been in business since 1908,” Greengrass says in the video interview posted on Instagram. “Barney Greengrass is my grandfather. I learned this trade of the smoked fish business down on the Lower East Side. We’re called Barney Greengrass The Sturgeon King. The moniker of The Sturgeon King was coined by a New York state senator named James Frawley back in the early 1900s.”
Nordstrom is planning to host “activations” at their West 57th Street flagship with each partner throughout the rest of the year, and a spokesperson told the New York Jewish Week that their in-store partnership with Barney Greengrass will launch in mid-October.
Unlike many of its New York-based peers like Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom does not have Jewish roots. Nevertheless, the department store has spotlighted Jewish food and identity in New York City in recent years.
Last fall, Nordstrom hosted a pop-up collaboration with Brooklyn’s new-age Jewish deli Edith’s, serving breakfast and lunch items like their most popular sandwich, the bacon-egg-cheese-latke, of BECL, and their beloved iced tahini cold brew slushie.
In December 2022, the brand featured Brooklyn-based Jewish fashion blogger Mordechai Rubinstein celebrating Hanukkah with his family in ads all over the city. In the ads, Rubinstein and his wife, interior designer Sara Brown-Rubinstein, eat latkes from Russ and Daughters and light the menorah together.
“Inclusivity is important to us as a company, and we know it is something our customers value too,” Red Godfrey, vice president of creative at Nordstrom, told the New York Jewish Week at the time. “Our campaign spreads cheer by showing the real human connection through warm and intimate moments shared amongst loved ones in their most personal settings.”
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