The Nordstrom in my old town renovated a couple years ago and got rid of all the checkouts entirely, expecting the employees to check people out wherever with the handheld point of sale tablets. It was very awkward for both parties, because customers didn't know where to wait for someone to help them, if everyone was busy or somewhere else, and employees didn't have anywhere to put items while they were checking someone out. They've put some kiosks back, but they're smaller than they used to be.
The Nordstrom in my new town is bigger, one of the biggest in the area, and they recently added a service desk like Marianna mentions, for picking up online orders and such as well as returning things. I prefer that because I'm not taking someone away from their regular area, and I usually have items from several categories of the store, or from online and in store purchases both, to return, so it takes a few minutes to do.
I can't really compare the Nordstrom of now to the Nordstrom of many years ago. I didn't grow up on the west coast so I never went in one until the late 90s at the earliest. It seems like with the nationwide (and Canadian) expansion and the promotion of NAS, etc., they're not really aiming at a high end market anymore, more of a mid level market. Nicer than Macy's but not as exclusive as Neiman Marcus or a specialty store.
