Canadian here - Nordstrom offered outrageously priced goods. The luxury market here is small. Even when it's within reach for someone they aren't likely to chooes the luxury version over a more accessible version.
Fancy things aren't really viewed the same here. In many places having a really nice car doesn't make you "the man". It makes you come across as "flashy". Kinda like "what are they trying to prove?". Even if the person just likes the car, others make it out to be a thing.
tl;dr - they didn't stand a chance because they didn't understand the market.
As someone that lives in downtown Vancouver and was a regular Nordstrom shopper we have a very different view of Canadians. I think the real issue if the proliferation of high end brand specific stores, why buy buy a LV purse from Nordstrom when there is an LV store next door. The designer brands are just figuring out distribution themselves.
The luxury market is huge in major Canadian cities.
I'm one of the people who enjoy luxury goods. I'm from the Toronto area (Niagara really), lived in Ottawa for 8 years. Every time we go to Vancouver we go shopping. The density of luxury goods is the best in Canada.
I think being from Van has skewed your perception a bit. If you look at other countries around the world you will see higher availability of luxury goods, in higher density.
Fancy things aren't really viewed the same here. In many places having a really nice car doesn't make you "the man". It makes you come across as "flashy". Kinda like "what are they trying to prove?". Even if the person just likes the car, others make it out to be a thing.
tl;dr - they didn't stand a chance because they didn't understand the market.