Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus

File:Nieman's logo.PNG
Company type	Department store
Industry	Retail
Founded	1907
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, USA
Products	Clothing, footwear, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares.
Website	www.neimanmarcus.com

Neiman Marcus is an upscale, specialty, retail department store, operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and competes with such establishments as Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The Neiman Marcus Group also operates the exclusive Bergdorf Goodman specialty, retail department stores on Fifth Avenue in New York City and a direct marketing division, Neiman Marcus Direct, which operates catalogue and online operations under the "Horchow," "Neiman Marcus" and "Bergdorf Goodman" names.

History

The Neiman Marcus headquarters and flagship store on Main Street in downtown Dallas, Texas.

Herbert Marcus, Sr., his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman and her husband, A. L. Neiman, came from Atlanta, Georgia with $25,000 to found the Neiman-Marcus retail establishment in Dallas, Texas, on September 10 1907. Ironically, before the family members came to Dallas, they had an opportunity to invest in a new "sugary soda pop business" in Atlanta. The family decided to pass on investing in the business, which later became Coca-Cola. For this reason, early company CEO Stanley Marcus was quoted in 1957 as saying the company was "founded on bad business judgment."

In 1913, a fire destroyed the Neiman Marcus store and its merchandise. A temporary store was set up and opened in just 17 days. By 1914, Neiman Marcus reopened in its new, permanent location, on Main Street at Ervay Street. With the opening of this flagship store, Neiman Marcus increased its product selection to include accessories, lingerie and children's clothing, as well as expanding the women's apparel department. In 1929, it began offering menswear. The Main Street building, which many now call the 'original' Neiman Marcus, was given state historic landmark status by the Texas Historical Commission in 1982.

In 1927, Neiman Marcus premiered the first weekly retail fashion show in the United States. In 1969, the first Neiman Marcus outside the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex opened in Houston as a freestanding store and became an anchor in the Houston Galleria in 1970. In 1971, the first Neiman Marcus outside Texas opened in Bal Harbour, Florida. In subsequent years, stores have opened in over 30 cities across the United States, including Chicago, Atlanta, Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

In the late 1990s, the company started a small boutique concept called the "Galleries of Neiman Marcus", which sold jewelry, gifts and home accessories. The concept struggled and ultimately all three locations, Seattle, Cleveland and Phoenix, were shut. Some believe the locations were wrong and Neiman Marcus officials have hinted the concept might be resurrected. In 1999, neimanmarcus.com, and the store's online gift registry, debuted under the control of Neiman Marcus Group's Neiman Marcus Direct division.

On January 22, 2002, Neiman Marcus and the fashion world alike mourned the death of Stanley Marcus, who had served as president and chairman of the board for the company. Marcus had been the architect behind many of the store's most famous innovations, including the fashion shows, New York advertising for a strictly regional chain, in-store art exhibitions, and the Christmas catalog with its outlandish His-and-Hers gifts, including vicuña coats, a pair of airplanes, "Noah's Ark" (including pairs of animals), camels, and live tigers.Long since retired from his chairmanship of the company, Stanley Marcus was nonetheless one of the last remaining ties to its original ownership.

Over the last 20 years, ownership of Neiman Marcus has passed through several hands. In June 1987, the company was spun-off from its retail parent, Carter Hawley Hale Stores, and became a publicly listed company. General Cinema, later to become Harcourt General, still had a roughly 60% controlling interest until 1999, when Neiman Marcus was fully spun-off from its parent company. On May 2, 2005, Neiman Marcus Group was the subject of a leveraged buyout (LBO), selling itself to two private equity firms, Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus.

Neiman Marcus Today

Unlike many of its department-store contemporaries, Neiman Marcus is still in operation today under the original name and is still headquartered in the city where it began. The Neiman Marcus Group comprises the Specialty Retail stores division — which includes Neiman Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman — and the Direct Marketing division, Neiman Marcus Direct. These retailers offer upscale assortments of apparel, accessories, jewelry, beauty and decorative home products. The company operates 37 Neiman Marcus stores across the United States and two Bergdorf Goodman stores, in Manhattan. *The newest addition- store #38- opened in Austin, Texas March of 2007. Neiman Marcus' largest market is the South Florida MSA, where they operate five stores. The company also operates 16 Last Call clearance centers. These store operations total more than 5 million square feet (500,000 m²) gross. Competitors in the luxury retail segment include Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York.

The exterior of a typical Neiman Marcus department store at Town Center at Boca Raton located in Boca Raton, Florida.

Neiman Marcus Direct, conducts both print catalog and online operations under the Neiman Marcus, Horchow and Bergdorf Goodman brand names. Under the Neiman Marcus brand, Neiman Marcus Direct primarily offers women's apparel, accessories and home furnishings. Horchow offers upscale home furnishings, linens, decorative accessories and tabletop items.

Until recently, The Neiman Marcus Group owned majority interest in Kate Spade LLC, a manufacturer of handbags and accessories. In October 2006, the company purchased all minority interest for approximately $59.4 million, and in November 2006 sold 100% ownership to Liz Claiborne, Inc for approximately $121.5 million. Another recent divestiture was a majority interest in Gurwitch Products LLC, which manufactures Laura Mercier cosmetics, to Alticor Inc., for approximately $40.8 million.

Since 1987, Neiman Marcus has accepted merchandise transactions using only its proprietary store credit cards, American Express cards, cash or check for purchases in their retail stores. However, between fall 2005 and mid-2006, Neiman Marcus quietly tested the acceptance of Visa and MasterCard at a store in Missouri, as well as in several in-store restaurants in California. (Neiman Marcus has accepted all major credit cards for online purchases since the website opened in 1999.) After Neiman Marcus sold its store credit card business to HSBC in mid-2005 and the forthcoming expiration of the company's exclusive ten-year agreement with American Express later in 2007, some insiders say that the company may make the tested changes chainwide sometime in 2007. At around the same time, Neiman Marcus may introduce a co-branded American Express credit card issued by HSBC, which the five-year agreement with HSBC allows.

Since 1939, Neiman Marcus has issued an annual Christmas catalog, which gets much free publicity from the national media for a tradition of unusual and extravagant gifts not otherwise sold in its stores. Some have included the 'his and hers' themed item, trips and cars (see below), to name a few.

theshowroom of Neiman Marcus

In the fall of 2004, Neiman Marcus launched a new store within a store concept, theshowroom of Neiman Marcus. This new department is dedicated to selling the high-end furniture and home collections previously only available through Neiman Marcus companion catalogues, The Horchow Collection and NM by Mail. The six Neiman Marcus stores that house the collection are located in Plano-Dallas MSA (Willow Bend), San Francisco (Union Square), Scottsdale (Fashion Square), Chicago (Michigan Avenue), Oak Brook (Oakbrook Center) and Minneapolis (Nicollet Mall).

Customer Service

The Blue Wool Suit for the Poor West Texas Girl

Stanley Marcus had great faith in the honesty of people. One year, he received a letter from a young woman who was taking on a job in a small West Texas town. She heard that there would be many eligible bachelors at the train depot to greet her and was nervous about her appearance. She wrote a letter to Mr. Marcus requesting his help:

Dear Mr. Herbert Marcus,

I have just graduated from normal college, and I’d like to have a fall suit. I spent all my money getting a diploma. I cannot even make a deposit because my pocketbook is empty and my family hasn’t got any cash to spare. Could you possibly send me a suit in dark blue serge in the latest style? I’m young, so it shouldn’t be old-ladyish. Send something with a lot of zip, but not too fussy either.

He sent two suits, one zippier than the other, and told her to choose the one she liked. She chose the more expensive and returned the other by mail. She wrote Mr. Marcus thanking him for his kindness and telling him she felt as if the Neiman Marcus labeled suit had been her armor to stand tall against her fears.

Twenty years later, after NM had lost touch with the customer, a letter was sent to a major fashion magazine retelling the story of the blue suit. The editor sent a copy to Neiman Marcus, and it ended with:

I know they are the smart merchandisers there, people who know where the big money is. But I just want to tell you that to a poor West Texas schoolteacher, long ago, Neiman-Marcus was a Santa Claus.

First Lady Luncheon

At 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, a local news anchor called the Washington store General Manager in a panic. The anchor learned First Lady, Laura Bush, would be attending her luncheon at 12:00 noon that same day. The anchor, a loyal Neiman Marcus customer, didn’t have enough plates in her pattern to accommodate all of the expected guests. She asked us to charge a place setting and deliver to her home in less than an hour!

Just as the operations manager was leaving the store, the delivery was called off. The customer changed her mind and no longer needed the extra place settings. Upon returning to his office, the operations manager learned that the discerning customer had changed her mind, again and needed the dishes after all.

As the operations manager drove up to the customer’s home, he was greeted, very suspiciously, by the Secret Service, who would not allow him to enter the driveway. With his mission in mind, after all the fate of the First Lady’s lunch was at stake, the operations manager told the Secret Service that he was delivering plates for the luncheon and must get in! Finally, after much discussion, the Secret Service relented and allowed him make the delivery.

When the operations manager returned to the store, the customer was on the phone. She needed two more place settings because the First Lady had unexpectedly brought her two daughters!

En route, the operations manager received a call from loss prevention informing him to come back to the store because the customer realized that she didn’t have enough soup bowls either.

With two more place settings and extra soup bowls in tow, the operations manager was once again greeted by the Secret Service. But this time they were no longer suspicious or hostile towards him; he was waved in with a smile!

After the event, the customer called the store and expressed her delight with the success of her luncheon, stating, “I couldn’t have done it without Neiman Marcus!” Additionally, the table settings made such an impression that two guests called to order the very same china.

There’s no secret to this customer service, only unparalleled determination and dedication to our customers!

Here Comes the Bride

The merchandise manager in the Houston Store received a startling phone call one Saturday morning, around 8:50 a.m. asking that he call the General Manager of NM Downtown, regarding a customer problem.

The matter concerned a bride-to-be who was getting married in Galveston, Texas later that day. The wedding was scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m., but the wedding gown did not fit the bride at all! The gown, purchased at the Downtown Dallas store, was never fitted on the bride, but instead was fitted on the mother of the bride. The daughter couldn’t make the fitting and asked her mom to be fitted instead, thinking the size would be close enough.

The Houston merchandise manager called his alterations manager at home to explain the problem. Quickly they jumped to action! Without hesitation, the alterations manager, two fitters and a portable sewing machine raced to the wedding site in Galveston. The alterations team was able to reconstruct the designer gown and the bride was able to walk down the aisle by 1:15 p.m.!!!

That day, Neiman Marcus delivered superior service and made a bride’s dream wedding come true.

Christmas Catalog Gifts

The Early Years

The world famous Neiman Marcus Christmas Book began in 1915 as a Christmas card, inviting customers to the store to start their holiday shopping. The next Christmas catalog didn’t appear until 1926, and consisted of 16 pages. It established a lasting tradition of showcasing the unusual, the humorous and the beautiful in a wide variety of prices, with keen emphasis on selectivity and taste.

During the 1950’s, Neiman Marcus became known for its publicity coups. It all started in 1959, in answer to press inquiries about unusual Christmas gifts. Stanley Marcus and brother Edward came up with an extraordinary gift that gained plenty of press: a Black Angus steer, delivered on the hoof or in steaks, complete with a silver-plated outdoor cooker. The response was tremendous, and the following year a world-famous retailing phenomenon was born – his and hers gifts.

His and Hers Gifts

In 1960 the first his and hers gifts, Beechcraft airplanes, gained so much fame that even renowned journalist Edward R. Morrow (and his then assistant Walter Cronkite) called Stanley Marcus every year to learn about the latest outrageous gift offerings from Neiman Marcus. Over the years, Neiman Marcus has offered "His and Hers" hot air balloons, Chinese junks, submarines, camels, robots, windmills and many other unusual and creative gifts.

The Ultimate Wish Book

The Christmas catalog has evolved into the ultimate wish book for all gifts big and small. Some unique gifts that have been offered over the years include the ultimate $20 million submarine, Mummy cases that contained an actual mummy, seats from Ebbet's Field, and a mermaid suit that could be used while swimming. From the most expensive, an unfinished Boeing Business Jet, to gifts under $100, the NM Christmas book proves there is something for everyone.

The Cover Art

Since it’s inception, the NM Christmas Book, has commissioned leading artists to design the cover, with the art ranging from abstract to surreal to humorous. Notable cover artists have included: Saul Steinberg, Ben Shahn, Robert Indiana, and Al Hirschfeld. Famous fashion models who have appeared in past Christmas books are: Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Morgan Fairchild, Andie MacDowell and Cybil Shepherd.

The Cars

Since 1995, a highly anticipated luxury car has been showcased in the NM Christmas Book. Beginning with the BMW Z3 roadster, the cars have soldout each year, often in the first 24 hours of availability. In 2000, telephone lines at Ford Motor Company were jammed with calls for the NM Limited Edition Ford Thunderbird. The new "bird" was so sought after that it sold out in two hours.

Giving Back

Another long-standing NM Christmas Book tradition is the gift of giving back. Each year a deserving organization is selected to benefit from the sale of featured Christmas book items. Past years' charities have included, Cure Autism Now, The Nature Conservancy and Inner-City Games and Support For People With Oral and Head and Neck Cancer.

Today, the NM Christmas Book is distributed to approximately two million homes worldwide and is available online at neimanmarcus.com Each year the fall debut of the Christmas Book marks the official start of the holiday season.

Other gifts offered over the years:

1964

• His and hers hot air balloons — $6,850

pre-1965

• Toy tiger draped and decorated with diamonds and other precious stones — $1 million.
• Ermine bathrobe, $6,975.
• His and Her airplanes, matched pair — $176,000
• Chinese junk (advertised as " Junk for Christmas") — $11,700 shipped to the Port of Houston.

1965

• A gold toilet seat advertised as "a 24 kt. Gold plated throne"— $250
• Handspun lace handkerchief -- $300.
• Empress Chinchilla coat — $8,975.
• His and Her para-sails — $361 each.
• "The Pets' Cookbook" and chocolate scented rubber bone — $10.
• Man's western style hat — $250.
• Pine wood play wagon for children — $145.
• Video tape recorder and camera — $1,345.
• One 14-ounce tin of fresh caviar — $130 (flown fresh to customer on request)

1970

• Pleasure cruise along the Florida coast — $35,000 (sold to a Miami charitable organization that then offered tickets for $200-$1,000 donations)
• Lucite bathtub with aquarium — $5,000
• His and Her Thunderbird autos
• "For optimists": $10 live oak trees
• "For pessimists": a Noah's ark with all endangered species aboard — $588,247

(No arks were sold, but over 1,000 trees were purchased.)

pre-1972

• a truckload of pink air
• His and her mummy cases, $16,000 and guaranteed to be about 2,000 years old
• a "Freeway Fortress" combination car and tank, $845,300 (or 10% down and 36 installments of $24,192.49 per month)

1972

• $5 of candy pebbles in a jar
• an $8 set of worry beads
• a $250,000 bag of uncut diamonds
• a "privacy egg," 12' x 15', built by N-M in the area of the buyer's choice and stocked as the buyer prefers, $80,000

1974

• the "N-Bar-M Christmas Book Mouse Ranch," 12 square feet, "for anyone who ever dreamed of being a cattle baron in miniature": acrylic corrals and fences, silverplated "roundup tweezers," mesa, cacti, pastures, feed barn, watering tanks, feed bins, and a windmill (but no mice) — $3,500
• 106-carat polished black boulder opal — $150,000, not eligible for charge purchases
• Russian natural sable jacket, $12,000
• Nickel-plated penguin ice bucket handmade in Italy, $450 (UPI noted: "To make the bird feel at home, Neiman-Marcus will fill it with custom-chipped Antarctic ice, hand carried from the South Pole. Travel arrangements for the courier, including row boat and ice pick only $3,450.")
• A pair of 18th century wooden horse heads from India — $7,500
• An imperial sacrificial robe worn by a Chinese emperor, circa 1770 — $6,000
• A sterling silver thermometer case for doctors — $28 plus 4 weeks for monogramming
• Bronze spearheads from the Persian Wars (1500 to 700 B.C.E.) — $35

1975

• In honor of the U.S. bicentennial, autographed letters from George and Martha Washington, $8,500 for the set

In 1961 Neiman-Marcus in Dallas was one of two stores in the nation — the other being Wanamaker's in Philadelphia — to offer computer-based assistance in selecting Christmas gifts. The process worked by comparing information on the recipient to a computerized list of the 2,200 items available at Neiman-Marcus, then providing a printout of the 10 best suggestions. One person testing the computer filled out the questionnaire as if he were President John F. Kennedy shopping for gifts in excess of $1,000 for his wife, Jacqueline; the computer suggested a yacht.

Cars

Neiman Marcus has often offered limited-edition automobiles in its holiday catalogs. These are usually coordinated with manufacturers as a publicity stunt, though the cars themselves are normally special versions unavailable from other sources and produced in limited numbers.

1970 "His and Hers" Ford Thunderbird

1995 BMW Z3 James Bond edition

1996 GMC Suburban Sony edition

1997 Audi TT

1997 Ducati 748L

1998 BMW X5

1998 Aston Martin DB7

2000 Lexus SC 430

2001 Ford Thunderbird (200)

2002 Cadillac XLR (101)

2003 BMW 645Ci

2004 Maserati Quattroporte (at $125,000)

2005 Lexus GS 450h (75 at $65,000)

2006 BMW M6

An apocryphal story holds that during the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968, Marilyn Lovell, wife of astronaut Jim Lovell, who was the Command Module Pilot, received, as a Christmas present, a mink coat that was delivered to her by a Neiman Marcus driver in a Rolls-Royce car. The coat was wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper with two styrofoam balls — one for the Earth and the other for the Moon — and had a card that read, "To Marilyn, from the Man in the Moon."

Neiman Marcus in Popular Culture

Urban legend: The $250 cookie recipe

The store is featured in an urban legend involving a supposed recipe for its popular chocolate chip cookie. In the legend, a woman and her daughter enjoy a cookie while shopping at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, and ask for the recipe. The waiter informs her there will be a "two-fifty" charge, which the woman interprets as a measly $2.50. Upon receiving her VISA statement, she is shocked to discover she has been charged $250.00 instead. In revenge, she photocopies the recipe and urges her friends to distribute it for free to everyone they know so that the store will make no further profit on its sale. Because the story typically was passed along as a photocopy, it falls in the legend subcategory of Xeroxlore.

Folklorists have pointed out three chief holes in the story: (1) Neiman Marcus does not accept Visa for any in-store purchase (although Visa is accepted for online purchases through the company's website); (2) prior to the emergence of the legend, the store did not have a chocolate chip cookie; and (3) a similar story has been around since the 1940s, originally involving a red velvet cake recipe from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It wasn't until the 1980s that the story's focus shifted to cookies. (The cookie version of the story originally was attached to Mrs. Fields cookies, causing that company eventually to post disavowals of the notices at all its stores.) Although the story is untrue, Neiman Marcus nonetheless posted a cookie recipe on its web site to quell rumors.

From the Neiman Marcus website:

An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It's a terrific recipe. And it's absolutely free.

Yields about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients: ½ cup (one stick) butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder

Preparation: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the work bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until the mixture is fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds longer, until well combined.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixer, while beating on slow speed., Beat for about 15 seconds, stir in the chocolate chips and espresso powder, and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Prepare a cookie sheet with about 2 tablespoons of shortening (or use a non-stick spray). Using a 1-ounce scoop, or using a 2 tablespoon measure, drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet in dollops about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into 2-inch circles; there should be room on the sheet of six or eight cookies at a time. Transfer to the oven in batches and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cookies are nicely browned around the edges. Bake for a little longer for crispier cookies.

Popular Media

Neiman Marcus' international notoriety has led to its inclusion in many popular media. Television sitcoms can quickly convey someone's wealth by making the character a Neiman-Marcus shopper, as was done with Blair Warner of the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life. Similarly, in an episode of A Different World in which the well-to-do Whitley Gilbert must return all her credit cards to her father, she is especially loath to give up her Neiman Marcus card and reminisces wistfully over past purchases. On the television show Gilmore Girls, it is mentioned that the main character's rich mother bought her measuring tape at Neiman Marcus.

The store is mentioned in a number of minor ways in other media. It is said that the shopping scenes from Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" were filmed at a Neiman Marcus store, and the adventure game Nethack involves a buried joke in which the player is told, "You hear Neiman and Marcus arguing" while hallucinating on a game level that includes a shop. American parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic released a song entitled "I'll Sue Ya" on his album Straight Outta Lynwood that satirizes America's fame for frivolous lawsuits; in the song, the singer jokes about various lawsuits he has filed, including suing Neiman Marcus because they "put up their Christmas decorations way out of season."

The chain is also mentioned in the Steve Martin and John Candy comedy film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. When Martin's character is going over his credit cards, after he and Candy's character have been robbed, he remarks "And, I've got a Neiman Marcus card in case we want to buy a gift for somebody."

Store Locations

See List of Neiman Marcus locations.

Neiman Marcus currently has stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. The chain will re-enter the Pacific Northwest in 2009 when it plans to open a store in Bellevue, Washington.

External Links

• Neiman Marcus
  • Neiman Marcus Group
  • Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe
• NeimanCarcass.com Website against Neiman Marcus's fur industry