You can now drop off Rent the Runway rentals at select Nordstrom stores — and that's not all you can expect from this partnership

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• Rent the Runway has partnered with Nordstrom to expand its drop-off box network to four Nordstrom stores in the LA area.
• RTR customers can drop off their rentals in person and immediately pick their next rentals on the spot.
• RTR customers will also have access to Nordstrom services like try-on and gift-wrapping. 
• In 2018, the company partnered with select WeWork offices to bring drop-off boxes to its lobbies to increase the convenience of subscriptions, which now accounts for 70% of its business.

In its early days, women came to Rent the Runway (RTR) to rent an aspirational $500 designer dress for a wedding for $50. Fast-forward one decade later to 2019, and that limited usage is a foreign concept.

The advent of two highly successful subscription services beginning in 2016 — RTR Update (four items per month, $89) and RTR Unlimited (unlimited rentals of four items at a time, $159) — has shifted the company from helping women shop designer for special occasions to altering the way women shop for their day-to-day wardrobes. Subscriber acquisition is up 160% year-over-year. In response, RTR's selections emphasize women's daily lives —workwear, weekend, and date-night clothes — far more than a rotating carousel of floor-length gala options. Subscriptions now represent nearly 70% of the business and, according to the company, the most active RTR subscribers wear rented clothes more than 120 days (over 30%) of the year.  

Read more: We used RTR to rent $4,862 worth of designer clothes in a week — here's how it works, and why we're so willing to pay the $160 monthly fee

In 2018, the company partnered with WeWork to bring RTR drop-off boxes to select WeWork office lobbies, making it so that subscribers could return clothes in person and select their next rentals immediately after — skipping the waiting period of sending it through the mail. By nature, WeWorks are located in highly central locations, making the service even more convenient for 90% of RTR customers who work.  

Now, Rent the Runway has partnered with Nordstrom to bring drop-off boxes to select Nordstrom locations.

As of Thursday, June 27, RTR subscribers can find drop-off boxes in four Nordstrom stores in the LA area, including Brentwood, Downtown LA, and West Hollywood.

In addition to the new drop-off boxes, the company says the partnership will allow RTR members to experience Nordstrom services like try-on, tailoring, styling, gift-wrapping, easy returns, and a variety of beauty services. In the future, it will also include the opportunity for RTR customers to ship their orders directly for pick-up and make RTR x Nordstrom styling appointments in which a trained stylist will work with RTR members to build out their ideal closet with a mix of rented and owned items from RTR and Nordstrom.

Since both RTR and Nordstrom are highly data-driven, an expansion of these drop-off locations will inevitably hinge on customer feedback and utilization. But it wouldn't be crazy to assume that, given RTR's aggressive growth and Nordstrom's 370+ stores, that this could be the start of something much larger.

Sign up for your first month of RTR Update now to get your first two months for $69 (originally $89) [use code "FF40" at checkout]

Sign up for your first month of RTR Unlimited now to get your first two months for $119 (originally $159) [use code "FF80" at checkout]