Bruce Nordstrom, Retail Titan, Ultimate ‘Shoe Dog,’ Dead at 90

Inc.’s reputation for service, quality and footwear who led the Seattle-based retailer for four decades, died Saturday at the age of 90.

“Our dad will be remembered not only for his significant contributions to Nordstrom, but also for his unwavering dedication to his family and friends,” Erik and Pete added. “His passion, integrity and tireless work ethic served as an inspiration to everyone around him. But perhaps his greatest achievement was being an amazing father, husband and grandfather. Our dad leaves a powerful legacy as a legendary business leader, a generous community citizen and a loyal friend.

“I knew Bruce well. He was one of the nation’s great merchants and was one of the last of the department store legends,” said Gilbert Harrison, chairman of the Harrison Group and founder of Financo Inc. “He was responsible for the tremendous growth Nordstrom experienced through the U.S. He understood the growth opportunities and took advantage of where the opportunities were. He found sites that would be beneficial to the Nordstrom customers. He knew how important the shoe business was.

Over the years, additional shoe stores were opened. The company survived the Great Depression and World War II and, eventually, seeing the need to diversify, purchased Best Apparel, a Seattle-based women’s clothing store, in the early 1960s, putting the company on an accelerated growth path. In 1967, when annual sales reached $40 million, the chain’s name was changed to Nordstrom Best.

“Stanley said he would love to have me down, and I jumped at the chance,” Bruce said. “They let me see everything, and I even ate in the executive dining room. They couldn’t have been nicer.” Amid a period of great growth, Bruce and team took the company public in 1971, debuted the first Nordstrom Rack in 1973, and continued expansion throughout the U.S., in particular during the growth years throughout Washington, Oregon, Alaska and California, when Bruce led the business, before he officially retired in 1995.

“Bruce was very pro-New York and the opportunity it presented,” Harrison said, noting that the Seattle-based company had already ringed the metro area with stores that operate in Roosevelt Field shopping center in Garden City, Long Island; the Westchester Mall in White Plains, N.Y., and Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J.

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