Island residents know Nordstrom best by its shoes.

The specialty retailer has been in the shoe business in Hawai'i for 40 years, running the Liberty House shoe department until 1997, then opening a standalone shoe store in Ward Centre and a Nordstrom Rack store nearby.

When Nordstrom Ala Moana opens on March 7, however, its shoe departments — yes, that's plural — will top any of the department store's past offerings. There are five shoe departments, covering one-third of an acre of retail space. Three of those departments, and a similar percentage of their shoes, are for women, since 75 percent of Nordstrom's shoppers are female.

If you were to stack the Ala Moana Center Nordstrom's shoe boxes on top of each other, the stack would be five miles high.

But shoes are not the whole story of what Nordstrom will add to Honolulu's retail mix. The Seattle-based department store chain, known for its commitment to customer service, will bring some service innovations to Island shoppers. Here are a few: