Nordstrom Inc. will close its Nordstrom Rack store at the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis later this week, the company said Monday, saying it could serve the Twin Cities better with its other stores.

"We believe we're best able to serve customers in the Minneapolis market by focusing on our nearby Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack locations, as well as online," the company said in a statement.

The store's last day of business will be Friday.

Nordstrom opened the Rack location at IDS in September 2017, taking up 39,000 square feet of space on two floors. It was the only two-story Nordstrom Rack in the market and employed 75 people when it first opened.

The store stayed open through the pandemic even as the number of people in downtown offices plunged to near nothing. Its exterior experienced some damage in protests against the police in summer 2020.

The Seattle-based retailer opened the IDS location at a period of rapid expansion for Nordstrom Rack, its chain of discount outlets that sometimes acts as a liquidator for off-season merchandise from its Nordstrom department stores.

The company will continue to operate department stores at the Mall of America, where it was an original anchor tenant, and Ridgedale in Minnetonka. It also has Nordstrom Rack locations at MOA and in St. Louis Park, Maple Grove and Woodbury.

"Decisions like this are never easy and we understand the impact they have on our team members," Nordstrom said in its statement. "We're committed to taking care of our employees as best we can, including finding them other roles within the company."