That's interesting, Az, about the Canadian stores. I know that one of the things that doomed Target there was their lack of inventory, so I hope Nordstrom doesn't have the same problems. I bet they are keeping wholesale orders modest, so they don't overcommit themselves and have a lot of money tied up. But that can backfire, too.
I'm sure there are unique challenges in trying to keep a hybrid (stores plus online) inventory management system up to date, but other retailers seem to do a pretty good job with it (Target, for example, can tell me if stuff is available at my local stores, reserve them for me for pickup, etc., all the same things Nordstrom can do).
The YLF notifications only go out once a day or something, right? I was getting those for a while but by the time I got the email, stuff was sold out or the price had gone back to normal. I think the fact that they're price matching other stores' prices makes it more complicated too, because who knows when those prices will go back to normal. They used to put stuff on sale and leave it there until it sold out, so you were more aware of the timetable you had to work with and not playing a guessing game.