"These real life models would change every 15 minutes! Loved it!" Erika Page of Brentwood shares. Thanks!

Updated at 11:15 am to correct name.
Area's newest department store officially opens today
Brentwood Home Page news reports
Alas, Brentwood Home Page didn’t make the party, but plenty of Brentwood women – and a few men too – were among those being wined and dined by Nordstrom on Wednesday night. Ostensibly the affair was a benefit for the YWCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee and Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. But for the majority of those attending the area's hottest ticket in quite a while, the evening was a chance to check out the new department store that savvy shoppers here have been waiting on for a long time.

The shoe salon was the 'most hopping place of the night." Photo by Erika Page Wright.

Among those in the crowd was former daytime TV star Erika Page White who now pens “The Brentwood Mom” blog. “We called it our ‘Mom's in the City’ night,” said the former One Life of Live and Days of our Lives star. Wright and fellow Brentwood mom Melissa Beckham were both dressed by Stacey Rhodes Boutique and Spruce in Brentwood.

“As we are leaving, we ran into Stacey and said hello!” Erika shared. She and Melissa had their husbands in tow, singer-songwriter Bryan White and agent Rob Beckham. A few of the other Brentwood residents spotted in the crowd included Rick and Mary Ann Shipp, Leigh Ann Witt, Todd and Jana McCullough, Michelle Robinson, and Dr. Victor and Denise Williams Zirilli.

“There was no recession last night; I saw Jimmy Choo’s flying off the racks like crazy,” BHP fashion columnist Mila Grigg of MODA Imaging said. “People were dancing, partying and spending like they had money to spare.”

Grigg said service was exceptional (“as expected”) and that she saw clothing and brands available at “every level and price point.”

“The gala was well done in terms of music and creating excitement,” Grigg continued. “The deejay was great, champagne flowed all night long and shopping was in full effect in every department, including kids where you can find a $375 Burberry trench coat for the little ones.”

Several partygoers were very impressed with the live models – male and female.

“They were magnificently dressed in different themes all evening long – well, well done,” Grigg said. “The male models were such a hit on the bottom floor that women were actually climbing up on the blocks to take pictures with them as they tried to continue to strike a pose.”

At least one Brentwood mom who wasn’t at Wednesday’s party plans to be waiting at the doors when Nordstrom officially open for the first time today.

“I got out my Nordstrom card, polished it up and am ready to go,” said California transplant Liz Kiley. “Due to a work commitment, I couldn’t get to the preview party, but I will be there Friday by 8:30 a.m., or 20 minutes after the bus picks up my children ... whichever comes first!

The Seattle-based department store, which started out as a shoe store and is still known for its shoe departments, considered building a Brentwood store on the “flagpole property” about a decade ago. Since that time, Middle Tennessee shoppers, especially those who have moved here from other areas with the stores, have continually voiced their desire for a Nordstrom to open here.

Another new store will also make its Nashville debut soon. The Container Store is scheduled to open Saturday, Nov 5, also at The Mall at Green Hills.