Mystery Solved! What It's Like Inside Nordstrom's Treasure & Bond

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Treasure & Bond, the new charity concept store from the Nordstrom team, is officially opening on Friday, but there's still the plaguing question of what kind of things you'd fill a store with when you're planning to donate 100% of your profits to charity. This morning, we got to take a sneak peek inside of the (massive) store ahead of time to find out exactly what it's all about.

Treasure & Bond naturally has a bit of a fancier Housing Works feel to it, what with the charity angle and all, but the really great thing about it is that it takes away the problem of walking into a thrift store on the wrong day and not finding anything good. Because Treasure & Bond isn't a thrift store, and has a very legit general manager—Paige Boggs, who actually comes from Nordstrom—who's filled it with crafty pillows, trinkets, fragrances, jewelry, and brands like Vince, James Perse, Levi's Made & Crafted, and Rogan.

A lot of the merchandise was still being set up as we walked through, but we spotted some clever totes from Thomas Paul and Thursday Friday (like Birkins screenprinted onto canvas bags), candles and soap from Lucia, pillows with everything from Russian nesting dolls to horses on them, scarves by Virginia Johnson, and Civic Duty shoes that are made out of Tyvek. For a complete list of brands, check out all of their vendors here.

All of the proceeds from purchases will go toward two different charities per quarter. First up from October to August is The New York Public Library Programs for Children and Young Adults and The Achievement Gap Project, with a new batch of charities to follow in November. And you can make a pretty significant contribution by shopping: The store carries Nicholas K, which ain't cheap, and some of the price points for other items can get pretty high. For example, there's a Bijules ring with a black pearl in it that costs $1,500. But if you can only give a little, there's the same one, sans pearl, for $15.

When we first heard about all of this we of course were thinking omg we're getting a Nordstrom, and today's walk through gave us a glimmer of hope. Pete Nordstrom (who was there, in the flesh!) told us that he'd love to open a Manhattan store "hopefully sooner rather than later" and that with Treasure & Bond as a stepping-stone, the company "can learn some stuff" about what it takes to operate in a city like Manhattan. Another fun fact: the store got its start with the help of Anna Wintour, who called up Pete Nordstrom and told him about her philanthropist friend Catie Marron, who had an idea about starting up a store where all of the proceeds would be donated to charity.
· Nordstrom's Charity Concept Shop Should Open Very Soon [Racked NY]
· Nordstrom's Soho Charity Concept Shop Has a Name! [Racked NY]
· Treasure & Bond [Official Site]