Word: pete
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...share last May to the mid-$30 range (it closed last Friday at $37.875 a share). That has knocked almost half a billion dollars off the value of the Nordstrom family's 36% stake in the company. "Take your eye off the ball, and it's perilous," says Pete Nordstrom, 35, one of six thirtysomething brothers and cousins who became co-presidents in June 1995, when the fourth generation of family members moved to the head of the 96-year-old company. (The co-presidents report to chairman John Whitacre, 44, currently the only top executive from outside the family...
...downturn has been a brutal introduction to management for the young Nordstroms, who have learned the business from the ground floor up--first by sweeping out stockrooms and then by advancing through the ranks of buyers and managers. "We're very competitive," says Pete, who stands 6 ft. 7 in. tall and played junior varsity basketball while a student at the University of Washington. (His younger brother Erik joined him on the squad.) "There's a high sense of urgency to turn things around." Nordstrom points to some recent encouraging signs. Results in February were up "in all important categories...
...Pete and his cohorts have had little else to cheer about since they began minding the store 21 months ago. Surveying the elegant sales floors, which (in contrast to most upscale department stores) group fashions by life-styles rather than brands, the new management decided it was time to freshen up women's merchandise and move some established lines around. "We were starting to get a little bit behind," Nordstrom says. "We needed to be more contemporary and relevant...
Furthermore, service is costly; so Nordstrom must find a way to generate more sales from all its stores if it hopes to turn profits around. Besides massaging long-time customers, Nordstrom is trying to attract choosy new ones by paying more attention to refreshing its fashions. Pete Nordstrom argues that last year's shifts in placement have made it possible for the company to respond more swiftly to the latest trends. And he takes comfort from what happened in the early 1980s, when Nordstrom shook up customers by bringing in Liz Claiborne lines and moving other brands around. Although disruptive...
...stood between the foul lines of a baseball field. The aforementioned Cobb was allegedly a miserable human being. Babe Ruth was purported to be an irresponsible drunk. Mickey Mantle was an admitted alcoholic. It is time for the Hall to stop pretending that it canonizes saints. It should elect Pete Rose to its ranks...