In 1929 the Nordstrom brothers doubled the size of their downtown Seattle store. In the mid-1980s, a typical outlet stocked 75,000 pairs of shoes, 5,000 men's dress shirts, and 7,000 ties. The brothers were unsure whether they should simply expand their shoe business to the East and South or branch out into other areas of retailing. In September 1990, Nordstrom launched its first store in the metropolitan New York area, in Paramus, New Jersey. In April 1991 Nordstrom debuted its first Midwest store--in Oak Brook, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. The firm diversified further in these years, as Nordstrom Best began to sell men's and children's clothing as well.In 1901, John W. Nordstrom used his stake from the Alaska gold rush to open a small shoe store in Seattle, Washington. Carl Wallin retired the following year and likewise sold his share to the next generation of Nordstroms. Among these was a new flagship store in downtown Seattle, which opened in August 1998 as a renovation of the historic Frederick & Nelson building, the flagship location for the Frederick & Nelson department store chain, founded in 1890. Nordstrom, Inc. was started in 1901 as a single shoe store in Seattle, Washington, that was opened by two Swedish immigrants. In addition Nordstrom consistently maintained huge inventories and selection, which were usually twice the size of other department stores. Although Nordstrom suffered from the recession of the early 1990s, it continued to expand and open new stores in the East and Midwest. In 1985 sales first topped $1 billion, as they jumped to $1.3 billion. This third generation of Nordstroms to lead the company were replaced by former copresidents Ray Johnson and John Whitacre, who became the new cochairmen (although Johnson subsequently retired in September 1996), and were in turn replaced in the copresidency by six fourth-generation family members--Bill, Blake, Dan, Erik, Jim A., and Pete Nordstrom--all in their early 30s. In 1976 the firm launched a new division, Place Two, which featured, in smaller stores, a selected offering of men's and women's apparel and shoes. Salespeople received constant pep talks from management, and motivational exercises were a routine part of life at Nordstrom. During the early 2000s, new store openings for the Nordstrom flagship centered on the Sun Belt, including the first locations in Florida and several additional ones in Texas. By 1995, however, these costs had actually increased to 27.2 percent of sales, while net earnings improved only slightly to 4.01 percent.Such single-digit growth became the norm for Nordstrom throughout the early and mid-1990s, as sales grew sluggish thanks in large part to fluctuations in demand for women's apparel and the severe recession in southern California, where more than half of the company's total store square footage was located in the early years of the decade. ... Nordstrom. Opinion. In addition to more than 90 flagship Nordstrom department stores, the company also operates about 50 Nordstrom Rack outlet stores in the United States and around 35 Façonnable boutiques, most of which are located in Europe. Earnings fell about 7 percent for the entire year, from $123.3 million in 1988 to $115 million in 1989; sales, however, increased nearly 15 percent in that year, from $2.33 billion to $2.67 billion.Meanwhile, with net earnings slipping somewhat (from 5.3 percent in 1988 to 3.91 percent in 1993), Nordstrom sought to cut costs, in particular its selling, general, and administrative costs, which accounted for 26.4 percent of sales in 1992. Over the years, the Nordstrom family of employees built a thriving business on the principles of quality, value, selection and service.By the end of 1988, Nordstrom had 21,000 employees toiling in its 58 stores. ‘Historical Nordstrom Logo’ Print Dish Towel that shows a similar logo.
In late 1989 a group of unionized employees charged that they were not being paid for performing extra services to customers.Expansion in other areas of the East continued in the late 1980s. The general nationwide downturn in retailing hurt the company more, however. The font used for Nordstrom logo is very similar to Optima Medium, which is a humanist sans serif font designed by Hermann Zapf and published by Linotype. Edit. In typical Nordstrom style, the store unveiled featuring 125,000 pairs of shoes, a concierge, an espresso bar, and a wood-paneled English-style pub.