Nordstrom Rack Clearance Schedule: What 36,000 Markdowns Show
Search for a Nordstrom Rack clearance schedule and you get the same few tips: go early, shop Clear the Rack, check the website on weekends. None of them come with numbers.
We scan Nordstrom Rack’s online catalog twice a day and log every price change. Between August 19 and September 30, 2026 that log recorded 36,432 price drops on 24,928 items. This post is what those drops say about when Rack marks down, by how much, and whether waiting pays.
Rack prices only go one way
In the same six weeks we saw 298 price increases against those 36,432 drops. Put differently, 99% of the price changes on Nordstrom Rack’s site were cuts.
That matters for how you shop. At a lot of retailers a sale price can end and the item goes back up. At Rack, once an item is marked down it almost never comes back up online. The question is only whether it will still be there, in your size, at the next cut.
One Friday was a quarter of all markdowns
The biggest day in the log was not close. On Friday, September 4, the start of Labor Day weekend, 9,342 items dropped in price. That single day is a quarter of every drop in the six weeks.
And 8,916 of those drops (95%) were exactly 25% off the previous price. That is the shape of a sitewide event, and it matches the extra 25% off clearance that Nordstrom Rack’s Clear the Rack events advertise.
What happened after is the useful part:
- None of the 8,916 went back up. The event price was not a weekend price that reverted on Tuesday.
- 4,148 of them were cut again later. The event took a quarter off, and routine markdowns kept going from the new, lower base.
- The rest held at the event price for as long as we have data.
- After the event cut, the median item sat at 78.7% below its compare-at price.
What to do with this: an event cut is permanent, so there is no rush to buy before the event “ends” for price reasons. There is a rush for size reasons, because everyone else sees the same 25% at the same moment.
Routine markdowns land Tuesday and Wednesday
Take the September 4 event out and the weekly rhythm looks very different from what most advice says:
| Day | Price drops | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 6,678 | 24.7% |
| Wednesday | 6,361 | 23.5% |
| Thursday | 4,598 | 17.0% |
| Friday | 3,801 | 14.0% |
| Monday | 2,653 | 9.8% |
| Sunday | 1,868 | 6.9% |
| Saturday | 1,131 | 4.2% |
Nearly half of routine markdowns (48%) show up Tuesday or Wednesday. The weekend is the quietest part of the week.
Two caveats. We scan twice a day, so a drop that goes live late one evening can register the next morning, and the day in this table is when we first saw it. And six weeks is a short window. Treat Tuesday and Wednesday as a strong lean, not a law. Across a longer window that includes this event, Friday looks bigger (see our comparison of markdown days across nine retailers), and this post is the reason why: one event day can outweigh a month of routine cuts.
Rack cuts in big, round steps
Rack does not shave prices a few percent at a time. The most common cuts, measured against the item’s previous price:
| Cut from previous price | Share of all drops |
|---|---|
| 25% | 32.2% |
| 35% | 9.2% |
| 20% | 8.6% |
| 30% | 6.1% |
| 40% | 5.6% |
| 33% | 3.4% |
A third of every markdown is exactly 25%, and most of the rest are round numbers from 20% to 40%. For a $60 item, a single typical cut takes it to $45 or lower. There is no slow drift to watch for. Each cut is a real step.
How long between cuts
Many items get cut more than once. In the six weeks, 8,442 items were cut two or more times and 2,598 three or more times.
For items cut repeatedly, the median gap between one cut and the next was 10 days. Half of the gaps fell between about 4.5 and 12 days.
What to do with this: if an item you like just took a cut, the next one, if it comes, is most likely one to two weeks away. Waiting through one cycle is a reasonable bet on a popular-size item you are lukewarm about. For anything where your size is already low, the steady one-way ratchet means waiting mostly risks losing it, not paying more.
How deep each category goes
Here is where items landed after their most recent cut, measured against Rack’s compare-at price, with the median price paid:
| Category | Items cut | Median off compare-at | Median price after cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women’s clothing | 10,718 | 78.0% | $31.95 |
| Women’s shoes | 4,480 | 73.0% | $34.99 |
| Men’s clothing | 3,695 | 76.0% | $31.67 |
| Women’s jewelry | 1,084 | 81.8% | $8.98 |
| Men’s shoes | 839 | 67.7% | $47.98 |
| Handbags | 700 | 75.3% | $49.48 |
| Women’s accessories | 653 | 78.2% | $21.12 |
| Men’s accessories | 358 | 79.1% | $17.98 |
Men’s shoes hold their value best, landing around 68% off. Jewelry and accessories go deepest in percentage terms, but at lower dollar prices.
One honest note on these numbers: the compare-at price is Nordstrom Rack’s own reference price, not necessarily a price the item actually sold for anywhere. Use the percentages to compare categories with each other. Judge a specific deal by the price in dollars.
A workflow that fits the data
- Check Tuesday and Wednesday for routine markdowns. The weekend is quiet.
- Expect event days to be huge and permanent. When a Clear the Rack style event hits, prices drop about 25% at once and stay down, so the pressure is on sizes, not price.
- Assume the price will not come back up. 99% of price changes were cuts.
- Give lukewarm items one cycle. The median item that gets re-cut does so about 10 days later.
- Judge by dollars, not by percent off. Compare-at prices make everything look 75% off.
We track every Nordstrom Rack price automatically and log each cut. The live feed sorted by discount is at Nordstrom Rack deals, any item’s price history is on the Nordstrom Rack price tracker, and you can build full looks from marked-down pieces with the outfit builder. For how the Rack pricing system works in general, see how designer markdowns work at Nordstrom Rack.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Nordstrom Rack mark down clearance?
Outside of sale events, nearly half of the online markdowns we logged (48%) appeared on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the weekend was the quietest time. Sitewide events such as the start of Labor Day weekend produce far bigger single days.
Does Nordstrom Rack clearance go back up after Clear the Rack?
Not in our data. On September 4, 2026, 8,916 items dropped exactly 25% at once. None of them went back up afterwards, and 4,148 were cut again later.
How much does Nordstrom Rack mark down each time?
The most common cut is exactly 25% off the previous price, a third of all markdowns we logged. Most other cuts are round steps between 20% and 40%.
How often does Nordstrom Rack mark down the same item?
For items that were cut more than once, the median gap between cuts was 10 days, and half of the gaps fell between about 4.5 and 12 days.
Do Nordstrom Rack prices ever go up?
Rarely. In six weeks we logged 298 price increases against 36,432 decreases, so 99% of price changes were cuts.