Bruce Nordstrom, who along with three other members of the Nordstrom family turned a small Pacific Northwest shoe store chain into an international fashion retail giant with more than 150 stores around the world, died Saturday at his home in Seattle. did. He was 90 years old.
His death was confirmed by a company spokesperson.
As the grandson of Swedish immigrant founder John W. Nordstrom, Mr. Nordstrom is part of the third generation of his family to jointly run the company, share power, and make decisions by consensus. This is an unusual but successful Nordstrom tradition that continues today. This day.
He shared leadership with his brothers, cousins John N. Nordstrom and Jim Nordstrom, and Jack McMillan, who was married to his cousin Royal Nordstrom.
Management by committee is considered a business school method for disaster preparedness, but the Nordstrom family, including Bruce's father Everett and Everett's brothers Elmer and Lloyd, are co-leaders of the company founded in 2016. I decided that I could become more competent. 1901 Seattle.
When Lloyd Nordstrom called the 30-year-old Bruce into his office in 1963 and appointed him president, the younger Nordstrom accepted the post, but soon followed his father's example and joined three relatives in leadership. decided to share.
“Obviously, this arrangement worked,” Bruce Nordstrom wrote in his 2007 autobiography, Leave It Better Than You Found It. “It was great for them and it was great for me because it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.”
Robert Spector, author of “The Nordstrom Way,” a 1996 book about the company's reputation for customer service, said Bruce Nordstrom was “the nominal leader of the group.” But the company's egalitarian system, in which each executive was in charge of an area of expertise, functioned through a combination of pride and humility, always putting the company ahead of personal needs.
“Bruce was a very humble man, but a very proud man,” Spector said in a 2019 obituary interview. But he wanted to win. ”
With seven shoe stores in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, the family rapidly expanded the chain in the late 1970s and '80s, adding a full line of clothing and accessories while opening stores in California and across the United States. It has been expanded to. We've grown from a regional shoe store chain with less than $40 million in sales to a retail giant with over $9 billion in sales, operating 182 stores in 28 states, and offering online shopping in 30 countries.
When his family opened a store in Southern California in 1978, Bruce Nordstrom and his cousins encountered a wave of skepticism about their planned growth. “At the time, there were people around me saying, 'Why are you going to open a store there and mess it up?'” Nordstrom said in a 2018 interview with Footwear News, “It's OK in the Northwest, but in California. “And you're going to screw up,” said another, more sophisticated customer.
Although he had a gentle demeanor, he was still an ambitious and determined leader, he said, and reacting to that negativity pushed him to work harder. “He really liked proving that he could do something,” he said. “We have evolved, moved around, and achieved success. Success has given us the confidence to move forward.”
Nordstrom acknowledged that there are occasional disagreements among company leaders. “We don't always agree,” he told Footwear News. “But when things need to be decided, we vote. Sometimes there is smoke behind closed doors. But we are committed to finding solutions. We When we begin to walk, we begin to walk as one.”
Bruce Allen Nordstrom was born on October 1, 1933 in Seattle. His mother, Elizabeth (Jones) Nordstrom, known as Libby, was an accomplished singer who performed on the radio.
During World War II, at age 9, Bruce began working Saturdays and summers at a Nordstrom shoe store in downtown Seattle. He swept floors and broke cardboard boxes for his 25 cents an hour. He recalled in his memoirs that as he stood in line with other employees to collect his paycheck, he was proud to be a paid staff member.
He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, where most Nordstrom employees graduate, and rowed on the school's famous crew team. While graduating from college, he met Fran Wakeman, a freshman from Seattle, and after an on-again, off-again romance over the years, the two married. They had three sons, Blake, Peter, and Eric, all of whom worked at Nordstrom.
After graduating from college in 1955, Mr. Nordstrom enlisted in the Army and served six months as a lieutenant at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Upon returning to Seattle, he took a job managing one of the company's stores. His future as a manager was decided.
Nordstrom stepped down as chairman in 2006 but remained a key player in the company's stores. Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion this year.
Fran Nordstrom passed away in 1984. Four years later, Mr. Nordstrom married Jeannie O'Rourke. His eldest son, Blake, died of cancer in 2019.
He is survived by his wife. His sons Peter and Eric continue to help run the company. sister Ann Gittinger; and seven grandchildren.
alex traub Contributed to the report.
