Neiman Marcus

For more information on Neiman Marcus, visit Britannica.com.

Type: Private
On the web: http://www.neimanmarcus.com
Employees: 18,000
Employee growth: 0.6%

Not for the faint of finances, Neiman Marcus department stores offer high-fashion, high-quality women's and men's apparel (from such labels as Chanel and Prada), accessories, fine jewelry, china, crystal, and silver. The Neiman Marcus Group operates some 40 Neiman Marcus stores in some 20 states and the District of Columbia, as well as two Bergdorf Goodman stores in New York City and two dozen Last-Call clearance centers that sell marked-down goods. Its mail-order business, Neiman Marcus Direct, distributes catalogs (which offer apparel, home furnishings, and gourmet foods) under the Neiman Marcus By Mail and Horchow names. The upscale retail chain was acquired by two private equity firms in 2005.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending July, 2008:
Sales: $4,600.5M
One year growth: 4.8%

Officers:
Chairman, President, and CEO: Burton M. (Burt) Tansky
EVP and CFO: James E. Skinner
SVP and CIO: Phillip L. Maxwell

Competitors:
Barneys
Nordstrom
Saks

Incorporated: 1987
NAIC: 452110 Department Stores; 454110 Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses

The name Neiman Marcus is practically synonymous with upscale retailing in the United States. In the early 21st century, The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. operated through two main segments. The specialty retail stores segment included the 33 stores bearing the famous Neiman Marcus name and Bergdorf Goodman, another high-end retailer with two stores in Manhattan. The Neiman Marcus Direct segment included the Neiman Marcus catalog as well as two other catalog operations--Horchow and Chef's Catalog--and e-commerce web sites for all three brands. In addition, the group held majority control of Kate Spade LLC, maker of upscale designer handbags and accessories, and Gurwitch Bristow Products, LLC, maker of Laura Mercier cosmetics. Throughout much of its nearly 100-year history, Neiman Marcus has been the clothing store of choice for many of the nation's most fashion-conscious people.

From the very beginning, the founders of Neiman Marcus aimed high. The original store was opened in Dallas in 1907. Its proprietors were Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie, and Carrie Neiman's husband, Al Neiman. All three were working in various retail positions in the Dallas area around 1900. Frustrated by their dead-end jobs, Marcus and Neiman decided to strike out on their own. The pair moved to Atlanta in 1905 to start a sales promotion and advertising business. The venture was quite successful, and they were offered a lucrative buyout deal after only two years of operation. Given the choice between $25,000 cash or the Missouri franchise for Coca-Cola and some stock in that young company, they opted for the cash. In retrospect, that decision cost them a fortune, as Coke went on to become the Real Thing. In taking the cash, however, they acquired the seed money to launch the first Neiman Marcus store.

Neiman and Marcus returned triumphantly to Dallas in 1907 and immediately set out to open a store that sold the finest women's clothing money could buy. The store was lavishly furnished and stocked with clothing of a quality that was not commonly found in Texas. Within a few weeks, the store's initial inventory, mostly acquired on a buying trip to New York made by Carrie, was completely sold out. Oil-rich Texans, welcoming the opportunity to flaunt their wealth in more sophisticated fashion than was previously possible, flocked to the new store. In spite of a nationwide financial panic set off only a few weeks after its opening, Neiman Marcus was instantly successful, and its first several years of operation were quite profitable.

In 1913 the original Neiman Marcus store, and most of its merchandise, was destroyed by a fire, the first of several in the company's history. Within about two weeks, however, the store reopened at a temporary site nearby, and construction was quickly begun on a new permanent location. With capital raised through the sale of stock to a handful of manufacturing companies, the new building was ready for business by the autumn of 1914. In its first year at the new building, Neiman Marcus recorded a profit of $40,000 on sales of $700,000, nearly twice the totals reached in its last year at the original location.

Business at Neiman Marcus got better and better over the next several years, as money from oil, cattle, and cotton continued to flow into Texas. Throughout this period, the store maintained its commitment to extravagance, lining the aisles with the fanciest merchandise that could be found. Gradually, the store's reputation expanded beyond the borders of Texas, and soon glamorous types from Hollywood, New York, and even Europe were making special trips to Dallas to shop at Neiman Marcus.

In 1926 Al and Carrie Neiman were divorced, and Neiman's interest in the store was bought out by the Marcus family. The Marcuses remained at the top of the company's management for the next 60 years. Stanley and Edward Marcus, two of Herbert's sons, joined the company in 1926. A big expansion project at the store was completed in 1927, following the acquisition of some property next door. As a result, the store's capacity was nearly doubled. Neiman Marcus added men's clothing to its offerings with the 1928 opening of the Man's Shop. By 1929, the store's net sales had reached $3.6 million.

The onset of the Great Depression forced Neiman Marcus to shift its strategy. During the 1930s, the company began to include less expensive clothing lines in its inventory in hopes of keeping customers whose fortunes had taken a turn for the worse. At the same time, the store continued to stock the pricier, high-end items that made it famous, and it continued to attract wealthy Texans. Company lore from this era tells of a barefoot teenage girl walking confidently into the store and ordering thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. Her father had just struck oil, and her first impulse was to head straight for Neiman Marcus. By striking a balance between upper-crust fashions and more moderate ones, Neiman Marcus was able to maintain its elite reputation while also broadening its customer base. This successful transition to a more democratic clientele enabled the company to sustain its impressive growth rate, and by 1938 annual sales had broken the $5 million mark. Along the way, the store's Man's Shop was expanded, first in 1934 and again in 1941.

The move to include lower-priced merchandise accelerated during the 1940s. World War II brought hundreds of high-paying defense manufacturing jobs to the Dallas area. To the female workers and the wives of their male counterparts, shopping at Neiman Marcus was like a dream come true. The Marcuses were quick to stock their store with merchandise that was affordable to this new wave of middle-class customers. Between 1942 and 1944, sales at Neiman Marcus grew from $6 million to $11 million. Still, the company was able to cultivate its special relationship with the super-rich, and the store took on a sort of split personality. This trend increased even further at the war's end, as more companies opened offices in Dallas, and young families with junior executive salaries settled in.

The immediate postwar years saw many changes at Neiman Marcus. Shortly after the war's end Marcus's two other sons, Herbert, Jr., and Lawrence, joined the company. In 1946 Neiman Marcus suffered the second major fire in its history. Despite substantial damage to both the building and its merchandise, the store was closed for only five days. Even with the loss of those peak Christmas shopping days, the store recorded its best season to date that year. Herbert Marcus, Sr., died in 1950, and Carrie Neiman died just two years later, leaving Stanley Marcus in charge of the company's operations.

Stanley Marcus led the company through a period of rapid expansion during the 1950s. In 1951 a second store was opened at Preston Center in the suburbs of Dallas. In 1952 a new service building was opened to handle merchandise for both stores. The following year a major renovation project added a fifth and a sixth floor to the Dallas store. In 1955 Neiman Marcus made its move into the Houston market. Rather than take on the expense of a new building, the company merged an existing store, Ben Wolfman's, into its operation. The company's reputation for lavish display grew along with its stores, as the company inaugurated the annual Neiman Marcus Fortnight in 1957. The Fortnight was a presentation of fashions and culture from a particular country, held in late October and early November of each year. Another popular annual publicity stunt was launched in 1960. Beginning that year, an extraordinary His and Hers gift selection was included in each Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. His and Hers gifts over the years have included such spectacular items as submarines, dirigibles, and robots.

Another generation of Marcuses came on board in 1963, when Stanley's son Richard Marcus joined the company as a buyer. The following year, fire devastated the main Dallas store, again during the peak Christmas shopping season. Once again, the store was reopened quickly, and the repair work included improvements to the store's appearance. In 1965, with the population of suburban Dallas growing by leaps and bounds, the Preston Center store was closed, and a new store, more than twice as big, was opened at NorthPark Center, also in the Dallas suburbs. Another branch was opened in nearby Fort Worth around that time as well. By 1967 the four Neiman Marcus stores in operation were generating annual sales of $58.5 million, and the company's profit for that year was in excess of $2 million.

Neiman Marcus ceased being a family business in 1968, when the company was merged into Broadway-Hale Stores, Inc., a West Coast retail chain with 46 stores and revenue of $457 million. The merger enabled Neiman Marcus to expand at a much faster pace than would have been possible as an independent entity. Over the next decade-and-a-half, the chain grew at a rate of about one store a year. With the opening of stores in California, Florida, and several other states during the 1970s, Neiman Marcus became a coast-to-coast operation. Atlanta; St. Louis; Northbrook, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; and White Plains, New York, were among the other places to receive new Neiman Marcus stores during this period. Although this quick proliferation lessened Neiman Marcus's exclusive image in the eyes of some customers, the major loss of luster that some feared would accompany its marriage to a less ritzy chain did not occur.

Meanwhile, changes and expansion were taking place at Neiman Marcus's Texas strongholds, too. The Dallas service center was dramatically enlarged in 1973, and in 1977 a new store at Ridgmar Mall replaced the previous Fort Worth location. In 1975 Stanley Marcus became executive vice-president of Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc. (formerly Broadway-Hale), in charge of its specialty store division, which included Neiman Marcus. Son Richard was named chairman and CEO of Neiman Marcus in 1979. By 1980, the year the company opened its first store in the Northeast, annual sales were in the neighborhood of $350 million.

The nationwide expansion of Neiman Marcus proceeded most quickly between 1979 and 1984, when the chain doubled in size to 21 stores. By 1984, however, it was clear that not all of the new stores were performing as well as expected against such rivals as Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue. At that point parent Carter Hawley Hale pulled in the reins on the chain's growth. In 1984 a hostile takeover bid for Carter Hawley was launched by retail chain The Limited, which offered to buy the company for $1.1 billion. In battling against the takeover, Carter Hawley found a white knight in General Cinema Corporation, a company whose $1 billion in revenue came from soft drink bottling and movie theaters. General Cinema bailed Carter Hawley out by purchasing 38.6 percent of the company's voting stock.

Two years later, The Limited teamed up with shopping center magnate Edward DeBartolo to launch a second attempt at Carter Hawley. This time, the defense involved a corporate restructuring (completed in 1987) that included spinning off Carter Hawley's specialty store division into an independent, publicly traded entity called The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. In exchange for its Carter Hawley stock, General Cinema was awarded 60 percent interest in the new company, which consisted of not only the Neiman Marcus stores, but also of exclusive New York retailer Bergdorf Goodman and the 200-store Contempo Casuals chain. Neiman Marcus stores contributed about three-fourths of the group's sales power. The Neiman Marcus Group expanded further in 1988 with the purchase of Dallas-based Horchow Mail Order, a cataloger specializing in upscale home furnishings, linens, and tabletop decorative items.

As General Cinema sought to return Neiman Marcus to its dominant position among upper-end specialty retailers, Allen Questrom was named president and CEO of Neiman Marcus Stores, replacing Richard Marcus and drawing the final curtain on the Marcus dynasty. By 1990, The Neiman Marcus Group, led by Neiman Marcus Stores, was General Cinema's most important money-maker, contributing about 90 percent of General Cinema's $92 million in operating profit. Questrom resigned his position in February of that year and was succeeded as president and CEO of Neiman Marcus stores by Terry Lundgren.

A new round of expansion began at Neiman Marcus under Lundgren. New stores were opened in Denver in 1990; Minneapolis and Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1991; and Troy, Michigan (a Detroit suburb), in 1992. In 1993 Lundgren was given the title of chairman, while remaining CEO. Gerald Sampson, formerly with The May Department Stores Company, was named president and chief operating officer of Neiman Marcus Stores. For that year, the company recorded revenues of $1.45 billion, a 12.7 percent jump over the previous year. Part of this success during a tough retail climate resulted from an increased emphasis on big-name designer labels, such as Calvin Klein, Georgio Armani, and Donna Karan. General Cinema, meantime, was renamed Harcourt General, Inc. in 1993.

As the 1990s rolled on, Neiman Marcus continued its attempts to attract new, younger customers, while maintaining its commitment to meet the needs of its core, upscale clientele. Toward this end, NM Workshop boutiques that focused on career wardrobes were added at several Neiman Marcus locations. In addition, construction was begun on a new Neiman Marcus store in Short Hills, New Jersey, in 1994, and other stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were planned. The year 1994 also brought another reshuffling among executives. Lundgren left the company for a position at Federated Department Stores, Inc. in February. The vacated chairman and CEO spots at Neiman Marcus stores were filled by Burton Tansky, who formerly held those titles at Bergdorf Goodman. Continuing as CEO of the parent company, Neiman Marcus Group, was Robert J. Tarr, who assumed the CEO position in 1991 and was also the CEO of Harcourt General.

In July 1995, in a move designed to enable the group to focus more fully on the upscale Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman businesses, the money-losing Contempo Casuals chain was sold to Wet Seal, Inc. for $1 million in Wet Seal stock. By mid-1996 the number of Neiman Marcus stores had grown to 29, and the chain had its best year ever during fiscal 1996, posting record operating earnings of $134 million on record sales of $1.6 billion, the latter being a 12 percent increase over the previous year. Also in 1996 came the debut of the Book, a so-called magalog that combined the selling features of a catalog with the editorial content of a magazine; by mid-1997 monthly circulation of the book had ranged from 675,000 to 1.2 million. Late in 1996, Tarr resigned unexpectedly from his positions at both Neiman Marcus Group and Harcourt General. Richard A. Smith, the chairman of both companies, was named CEO of The Neiman Marcus Group. Smith's son, Robert A. Smith, was named president and COO of Neiman Marcus Group.

Expansion was on the agenda in the final years of the 1990s. In early 1998 the group's direct mail operation, Neiman Marcus Direct, was bolstered through the acquisition of the Chef's Catalog for $31 million in cash. Founded in 1979, the Chef's Catalog offered gourmet cookware and high-end kitchenware. Running out of the types of large markets that are able to support a Neiman Marcus store, the group developed a concept extension that could be introduced into smaller markets. Dubbed The Galleries of Neiman Marcus, these stores initially ranged in size from 9,000 to 12,000 square feet (the average size of a Neiman Marcus store was 141,000 square feet) and featured precious and designer jewelry, gifts, and decorative home accessories. To test the new concept, three Galleries stores were opened, in Cleveland, Ohio, in November 1998; in Phoenix, Arizona, in December 1998; and in Seattle, Washington, in October 1999. The third avenue of expansion in the late 1990s stemmed from a trend in the industry in which top designers, such as Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Prada, were opening up their own retail outlets and thereby beginning to compete with Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and others (although the brands continued to be sold in these and other upscale retailers). In late 1998, Neiman Marcus Group launched a plan to spend as much as $200 million over the succeeding few years taking stakes in up-and-coming brands sold at the group's retail stores. In November 1998 the group spent $6.7 million for a 51 percent stake in Gurwitch Bristow Products, LLC, maker and marketer of the Laura Mercier cosmetic line. Launched in 1996 by Janet Gurwitch, a former executive vice-president of merchandising at Neiman Marcus, the Laura Mercier line was generating about $9 million in annual revenues at the time of the purchase. Then in February 1999, Neiman Marcus Group paid $33.6 million for a 56 percent interest in Kate Spade LLC, a maker of high-end designer handbags and accessories with 1998 revenues of about $27 million. Finally, in October 1999, neimanmarcus.com was launched as the chain's e-commerce web site.

Also in October 1999, Harcourt General ended its majority control of The Neiman Marcus Group by spinning off the bulk of its stake to its shareholders. Following the transaction, Harcourt held a 10 percent interest in the group. On the store development front, the 31st Neiman Marcus opened in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1998. Florida was the next expansion area, with a store opening in Palm Beach in 2000 and one in Tampa in 2001. Two more--in Coral Gables and Orlando--were slated to begin operating in 2002. In addition, a replacement store was opened in Plano, Texas, in 2001, and there were plans for new Neiman Marcuses in San Antonio, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, as well.

In May 2001 Tansky was named CEO of Neiman Marcus Group. He also remained head of Neiman Marcus stores as well, at least on an interim basis, following the departure in January 2001 of Hugh Mullins, who had headed up the chain for only ten months. The group posted record revenues of $3.02 billion for the fiscal year ending in July 2001, but sales flagged during the first half of the following year as high-end retailers were hit particularly hard, first by a stumbling economy and then by the severe cutback in consumer spending that came in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. The Harcourt General era of Neiman Marcus's history came to an end in April 2002 with the former company's announcement that it had liquidated its entire remaining stake in Neiman Marcus Group.

Stanley Marcus, another important link to the company's past, died in January 2002 at the age of 96, having served as chairman emeritus since 1975. In his 1974 book Minding the Store, Marcus asserted that a company's quality standards inevitably decrease as its number of branches increases. Since that time, Neiman Marcus has managed to thwart its longtime leader's axiom through both good and bad economic periods. Despite its geographic spread and the more populist range of its merchandise, Neiman Marcus's reputation as the store of choice for the elite remained more or less intact.

Principal Subsidiaries

Bergdorf Goodman, Inc.; Bergdorf Graphics, Inc.; Chef's Catalog, Inc.; Ermine Trading Corporation; Gurwitch Bristow Products, LLC (51%); Kate Spade LLC (56%); NEMA Beverage Corporation; NEMA Beverage Holding Corporation; NEMA Beverage Parent Corporation; NM Direct de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.; NM Financial Services, Inc.; NM Nevada Trust; NM Office, Inc.; NM Visual, Inc.; Neiman Marcus Funding Corporation; Neiman Marcus Holdings, Inc.; Neiman Marcus Special Events, Inc.; Quality Call Care Solutions, Inc. (Canada); Pastille by Mail, Inc.; Worth Avenue Leasing Company.

Principal Competitors

Federated Department Stores, Inc.; Saks Incorporated; The May Department Stores Company; Dillard's, Inc.; Nordstrom, Inc.

Further Reading

"Big Deal in Big D," Newsweek, November 4, 1968, p. 94.

Bird, Laura, "Haute Brands: Neiman Marcus, Saks Wage Expensive Battle for Upscale Shoppers," Wall Street Journal, November 21, 1996, pp. A1+.

Deutsch, Claudia H., "Neiman-Marcus Minds the Store," New York Times, September 4, 1988, p. F4.

Edelson, Sharon, "NMG's Tarr Mulling Bergdorf Expansion, Growth for Neiman's," Women's Wear Daily, August 19, 1996, pp. 1, 12.

Ferry, John William, A History of the Department Store, New York: MacMillan, 1960, pp. 161-68.

Haber, Holly, "Deep in the Heart of Texans," Women's Wear Daily, July 21, 1997, pp. 8+.

------, "Neiman's New Chief: Maximizing Growth for a 'Mature' Company," Women's Wear Daily, March 20, 2000, p. 1.

------, "Winning Big in Designer," Women's Wear Daily, October 27, 1993, pp. 8-9.

Harris, Roy J., and David Stipp, "Carter Hawley Blocks Takeover Attempt with Plan to Spin Off Its Specialty Stores," Wall Street Journal, December 9, 1986, p. 3.

Hessen, Wendy, "Neiman's Bold Move: Freestanding Stores for Fine Jewelry, Gifts," Women's Wear Daily, October 8, 1997, pp. 1+.

"History of Neiman Marcus," Dallas: Neiman Marcus Co., 1992.

Johannes, Laura, "Harcourt General to Spin Off Stake in Neiman Marcus," Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1999, p. C11.

Kaufman, Leslie, "Luxury's Old Guard, Battered by New Realities," New York Times, December 16, 2001, sec. 3, p. 1.

Lohr, Steve, "Neiman-Marcus Testing Northeast," New York Times, September 4, 1980, p. D1.

Marcus, Stanley, Minding the Store: A Memoir, Boston: Little Brown, 1974, 383 p.

------, Quest for the Best, New York: Viking Press, 1979, 227 p.

Mason, Todd, "That Neiman-Marcus Mystique Isn't Traveling Well," Business Week, July 8, 1985, pp. 44-45.

"The Merchant Prince of Dallas," Business Week, October 21, 1967, pp. 115-18.

Moin, David, "NM Acquires 56% of Kate Spade," Women's Wear Daily, February 5, 1999, p. 2.

------, "NM Expecting Minimal Fallout from Tarr's Abrupt Resignation," Women's Wear Daily, December 19, 1996, pp. 2+.

------, "NM Group Puts Vendors at Top of Shopping List," Women's Wear Daily, December 3, 1998, p. 1.

------, "The NMG Problem: Finding the Successor to CEO Burt Tansky," Women's Wear Daily, January 30, 2002, p. 1.

Moin, David, and Sharon Edelson, "Neiman's Gold Rush: An Intensified Effort to Promote Luxe Life," Women's Wear Daily, April 10, 1996, pp. 1+.

Montgomery, Leland, "General Cinema: The Value of Camouflage," Financial World, September 1, 1992, p. 17.

"Neiman Doesn't Shop Around for Leadership," Chain Store Age, March 1997, pp. 48, 50.

Pace, Eric, "Stanley Marcus, the Retailer from Dallas, Is Dead at 96," New York Times, January 23, 2002, p. A16.

Palmeri, Christopher, "Retailer's Revenge," Forbes, May 3, 1999, pp. 62+.

Pereira, Joseph, "Neiman-Marcus Names Questrom to Head Chain," Wall Street Journal, August 15, 1988, p. 21.

Seckler, Valerie, "NM Dumps Contempo for $1 Million in Stock," Women's Wear Daily, April 4, 1995, p. 2.

"A Store That Serves Two Markets," Business Week, September 19, 1953, p. 136.

Strom, Stephanie, "New Neiman Marcus Head Is Named," New York Times, April 22, 1994, p. D4.

Tolbert, Frank X., Neiman-Marcus, Texas, New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1953.

Vargo, Julie, "Neiman's at 90: Kicking Up Its Heels Texas-Style," Daily News Record, August 25, 1997, pp. 24+.

Williamson, Rusty, "Tansky at the Top: Named Chief Executive of Neiman's Group," Women's Wear Daily, February 21, 2001, p. 1.

— Robert R. Jacobson; Updated by David E. Salamie

• Opened: in Dallas in 1907.
• Company History: Ready-to-wear retailer was established by Herbert Marcus, Carrie Marcus Neiman, and Abraham Lincoln (Al) Neiman. Through Herbert, his son Stanley, and grandson Richard, management remained in the Marcus family over 80 years. Over the years many events and activities were established and became part of the fabric of contemporary fashion. Originally known for excellent service and unique merchandise, the company struggled to redefine itself under new ownership.
• Company Address: 1618 Main Street, Dallas, TX 75201.
• Company Website:www.neimanmarcus.com.

As one of only a handful of luxury retailers in the United States, Neiman Marcus is perhaps best known for their extravagant Christmas catalogue. Featuring annual his and her gifts of great imagination, several of these improbable items have actually sold. Since the first Christmas catalogue in 1939, Neiman Marcus has offered his and her Beechcraft planes (selling hers to a Texas rancher for his wife; he already had one), Chinese junks, eight of which were delivered to five different bodies of water, matching buffalo, and a female camel.

Herbert Marcus was a buyer of boys' clothing for Sanger Brothers in Dallas, while his sister, Carrie Marcus Neiman, was a blouse buyer and saleswoman for A. Harris and Company. Carrie's husband, Abraham Lincoln (Al) Neiman, persuaded the pair to accompany him to Atlanta to set up a special events business. After two years of success, the trio had a couple of offers to buy their business, one for $25,000 cash and another for a franchise in a new company. American retail would have been very different had they chosen the Coca Cola franchise.

They returned to Dallas and on 10 September 1907 opened the doors of Neiman Marcus. Though all were under 30, with not a high school diploma among them, they set out to offer ready-to-wear clothing of quality and value in an era when most clothing was still custom made. The apparel industry had not yet evolved into any sort of organized mass production, and issues of sizing, quality control, and style kept most fashionable women returning to their private dressmakers.

The young owners recognized that the world was changing and were determined to establish a unique business in the new era. They worked closely with manufacturers, demanding excellence, and offered to pay more for improved and finer garments. Customer satisfaction was paramount, and the sales staff was trained to accommodate clientéle and gently guide them toward good taste. Dallas was a thriving city of 84,000 people, many of whom possessed wealth from cotton. Oil money would come later, and Neiman Marcus was positioning itself to be the most fashionable store in the Southwest.

Herbert's son Stanley joined the store in 1926, after a Harvard education. His three younger brothers eventually followed him into the business. Two years later, Carrie and Al Neiman divorced, leaving the store owned by the Marcus family. Stanley Marcus instituted many events and practices that became standard for department stores, such as the first luncheon fashion show, personalized gift wrapping, bridal shows, and national advertising in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. His immaculate taste and genius for merchandising are legendary, and stories about his sales ability abound. He has been asked to select gifts for royalty and heads of state as well as the difficult to please; he once sold an electric blanket for a pet lion and had a toupee made for a mounted lion's head whose mane had been ravaged by moths.

Stanley Marcus assumed the rank of CEO and president in 1950 and stayed with the store until 1979, retiring as chairman of the board (he died in January 2002 at the age of 96). His son Richard, who served as CEO and chairman until 1988, succeeded him.

Neiman Marcus opened a suburban store in 1948, beginning a slow expansion in the U.S. that would eventually spread across nearly half the nation. The first public sale of common stock occurred in 1959, the same year Neiman Marcus by Mail was launched. Carter Hawley Hale of Broadway Hale bought the stores in 1969. A difference in philosophy created poor sales and damaged Neiman Marcus' reputation as unique.

In 1987 Carter Hawley Hale traded controlling interest in the Neiman Marcus Group to General Cinema (renamed Harcourt General in 1993). The Group included the prestigious Bergdorf Goodman stores (two) in New York and the mass-market chain Contempo Casuals. The Group purchased Horchow Mail Order of Dallas, a high-end home items retailer in 1988. Contempo Casuals was sold to Wet Seal in 1995, and the Group bought Chef's Catalogue, a purveyor of fine cookware in 1998. The Group also opened three Galleries of Neiman Marcus, smaller stores specializing in gifts and fine jewelry.

In 1998 the Group acquired controlling interest in the company that makes Laura Mercier cosmetics. The next year, they purchased more than 50 percent of Kate Spade, manufacturer of luxury shoes and handbags. Harcourt General spun off most of its stake in the Neiman Marcus Group to its own shareholders in 1999, with Richard Smith, his son Robert, and his son-in-law, Brian Knez, controlling about 23 percent of Neiman Marcus.

It remains to be seen whether the Neiman Marcus Group can continue to provide the superb special events, exotic one-of-a-kind items, and the personal attention that made the store one of the great retailers in America.

Publications

On Neiman Marcus:

Books
• Marcus, Stanley, Minding the Store, Boston, 1974; reissued, 2001.
• ——, Quest for the Best, New York, 1979, reissued 2001.
• ——, His & Hers: The Fantasy World of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalogue, New York, 1982.
• Farmer, David, Stanley Marcus: A Life with Books, Fort Worth, TX, 1993.
• Marcus, Stanley, The Viewpoints of Stanley Marcus: A Ten-Year Perspective, 1995.
• Wilson, Robert A. and Stanley Marcus, eds., American Greats, 2000.

Articles
• Marcus, Stanley, "My Biggest Mistake," in Inc., July 1999.
• "Not Nearly Shelved at 94 (Stanley Marcus)," in the New York Times, 22 August 1999.
• "Who's News: Neiman Marcus Group Inc.," in the Wall Street Journal, 26 June 2001.
• A&E Biography Series (Arts and Entertainment Channel television series), Neiman Marcus: Last of the Merchant Kings.
• Pacer, Eric, "Stanley Marcus, the Retailer, is Dead at 96," in the New York Times, 23 January 2002.

— Christina Lindholm

Neiman Marcus

Type	Subsidiary of Neiman Marcus Group
Founded	1907
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, USA
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares.
Website	www.neimanmarcus.com

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (August 2009)

Neiman Marcus is a luxury specialty retail department store, operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and competes with other exclusive department stores such as Barneys New York, 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.

Contents 1 History 2 Neiman Marcus today 2.1 The showroom of Neiman Marcus 2.2 Horchow Finale Stores 2.3 Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Centers 3 Fantasy gifts 3.1 Other notable Christmas gifts 3.2 Vehicles 4 Criticism 5 Neiman Marcus in popular culture 6 The "Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe" story 7 Store locations 7.1 Neiman Marcus 7.2 Horchow Finale 7.3 Last Call 8 Archives 9 References 10 External links

History

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

Herbert Marcus, Sr., a former buyer with Dallas' Sanger Bros. department store, had left his previous job to found a new business with his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman and her husband, A. L. Neiman, then employees of Sanger Brothers competitor A. Harris. In 1907 the trio found themselves with $25,000 from the successful sales-promotion firm they had built in Atlanta, Georgia, and two potential investments into which to invest the funds. Opting to reject the unknown "sugary soda pop business," the three entrepreneurs chose instead to return to Dallas to found a retail business rather than take a chance on the fledgling Coca-Cola company.^[1] For this reason, early company CEO Stanley Marcus was quoted in 1957 as saying in jest that Neiman Marcus was "founded on bad business judgment."^[2] Thus the store was established on September 10, 1907.

In 1913, a fire destroyed the Neiman Marcus store and its merchandise. A temporary store was set up and opened in just 17 days.^[3] By 1914, Neiman Marcus reopened in its new, permanent location, on Main Street, Dallas 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.^[4] The store staged a special show, "One Hundred Years of Texas Fashions," in 1936 in honor of the centennial of Texas' independence from Mexico. A 1957 profile of the store, "Neiman Marcus of Texas," described the "grandiose and elaborate" gala, noting, "It was on this occasion that one of the most critical among the store's guests, Mrs. Edna Woolman Chase, editor of Vogue, expressing the sentiment of the store's starry-eyed clientele, told the local press: 'I dreamed all my life of the perfect store for women. Then I saw Neiman-Marcus, and my dream came true.'"^[5]

“	I dreamed all my life of the perfect store for women. Then I saw Neiman-Marcus, and my dream came true.	”
—Edna Woolman Chase, editor of Vogue (1936), quoted in Commentary 1957

The 1950s also saw the addition of a $1.6 million store on Preston Road, a 63,000 square foot plant with decor "inspired by the art and culture of Southwestern Indians" and "colors ... copied from Indian weaving, pottery, and sand paintings"; the themed decor included Kachina figures on colored-glass murals and an Alexander Calder mobile named "Mariposa,"^[6] the Spanish word for butterfly. Art likewise was used as inspiration for Stanley Marcus' seasonal campaigns to solicit new colors in fabrics, as he did the year that he borrowed 20 Paul Gauguin paintings — many of which had never been publicly exhibited — from collectors around the world and had the vivid colors translated into dyes for wool, silk, and leather. Area teachers cited the Gauguin exhibits as spurring a dramatic increase in art study.^[7]

In the 1950s and '60s Gittings operated a portrait studio in Neiman Marcus. Clients included Lyndon Johnson, Howard Hughes, and the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family.

In 1957, 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, St. Louis, Boston, and Las Vegas.

Neiman Marcus in Boston's Copley Square

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 shuttered. Some believe the locations were wrong and Neiman Marcus officials have hinted the concept might be resurrected.^{[citation needed]} 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 worldwide fashion community 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.^[2][3][8] 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.^[9]

Neiman Marcus today

Unlike many of its department-store contemporaries, with the notable exception of Nordstrom, 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 — Cusp (a contemporary boutique format) 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 40 Neiman Marcus stores across the United States and two Bergdorf Goodman stores, in Manhattan. Neiman Marcus' largest market is the South Florida MSA, where they operate five stores. The company also operates 20 Last Call clearance centers and three Horchow Finale Furniture Outlets. These store operations total more than five million square feet (500,000 m²) gross. Competitors in the luxury retail segment include Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Barneys New York.

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. They have also launched a new blog [(www.insite.neimanmarcus.com)] outlining the latest news in the fashion world and beyond.

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.^[10]

Neiman Marcus sold its store credit card business to HSBC in mid-2005; however, Neiman Marcus sued HSBC over fees and interest rates in March 2008.^[11] The lawsuit was settled in May 2008.^[12] Notably, 50% of Neiman's transactions are conducted using their private-label cards due to the fact that Neiman Marcus accepts 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 briefly tested the acceptance of Visa and MasterCard at a store in Missouri, as well as in several in-store restaurants in California, and Neiman Marcus has accepted all major credit cards for online purchases since their website opened in 1999.)

According to the April 26, 2007 issue of The Wall Street Journal, Neiman Marcus is quietly testing a co-branded credit card issued by HSBC with some of their top customers. The card, which runs on the American Express network was expected to have been rolled out sometime in 2008, but the settled lawsuit between Neiman Marcus and HSBC may have delayed the new co-branded card's full launch.

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.

The showroom of Neiman Marcus

In the fall of 2004, Neiman Marcus launched a new store within a store concept, the showroom 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 eight Neiman Marcus stores that house the collection are located in Plano-Dallas MSA (Willow Bend), San Francisco (Union Square), Scottsdale (Fashion Square), Boston (Back Bay), Chicago (Michigan Avenue), Oak Brook (Oakbrook Center), Miami (Bal Harbour Shops) and Minneapolis (Nicollet Mall).

Horchow Finale Stores

Horchow, a high-end furniture brand owned by Neiman Marcus, is sold in a limited number of Neiman Marcus locations. There are also Horchow Finale Stores, with three locations. Though Horchow items are also found in Neiman Marcus Last Call stores, the Horchow Finale stores focus on furniture & home items. The three remaining Horchow Finale Stores are in the Dallas, Texas area. The original Horchow Finale location closed in 2009 to make way for the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Centers

Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center is Neiman Marcus' version of an outlet store. They are featured throughout the United States at a number of outlet centers, with many found in outlet centers operated by The Mills Corporation and Chelsea Premium Outlets. They range from 20,000 - 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²) of selling space and sell women's, men's and children's apparel, shoes, jewelry, handbags, furniture, luggage, gifts and home accessories that were previously sold in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores, on NeimanMarcus.com, and in the Horchow catalog at discounts of 30% to 65% off original Neiman Marcus and catalog prices.

Neiman Marcus credit card holders receive an additional 5% discount off their entire purchase at Last Call Clearance Centers when they use their Neiman Marcus credit card (other credit cards including American Express, MasterCard, and Visa are also accepted). Currently, there are 24 Last Call Clearance Centers in the US. The newest location opened at Gurnee Mills in Gurnee, Illinois in May

Fantasy gifts

This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view. For blatant advertising that would require a fundamental rewrite to become encyclopedic, use {{db-spam}} to mark for speedy deletion. (September 2008)

100th Anniversary Edition Christmas catalog 2007

In 1952, Stanley Marcus introduced a new tradition of having extravagant and unusual gifts in each year's Christmas catalog, The Christmas Book; the idea was sparked when journalist Edward R. Murrow contacted Marcus to ask if the store would be offering anything unusual that might interest his radio listeners; Marcus invented on the spot an offering of a live Black Angus bull accompanied by a sterling silver barbecue cart, subsequently altering the catalog to include his new idea, priced at $1,925.^[13][14][15] At one point, the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog carried the distinction of being the item most stolen from recipients' mailboxes, prompting a Chicago postmaster to suggest the company switch to enclosing the catalogs in plain brown wrappers.^[16]

Other Fantasy Gifts offered over the years:

pre-1965^[15]

• 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

1964

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

1965^[15]

• 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^[17]

• 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^[18]

• 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^[18]

• $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^[14]

• the "N-Bar-M Christmas Book Mouse Ranch," 12 square feet (1.1 m²), "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 carats (21 g) 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^[19]

• In honor of the United States Bicentennial, autographed letters from George and Martha Washington, $8,500 for the set

1978

• Solid milk chocolate Monopoly set, $600^[20]

1979^[21]

• Dirigible — $50,000

1986

• California Spangled Cat - Cover item - price included personal delivery of your new cat with a week of training provided by breed originator, Paul A. Casey, Jr. — $2,500

1998

• Aston Martin DB7 — 10 special black cars for the 1998 Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog

1999^[21]

• Preserve a section of endangered land, including naming rights — $200,000

2002

• Collection of paintings by Andy Warhol, "The Athlete's Series," $3,000,000
• Neiman Marcus Limited Edition 2004 Cadillac XLR, $85,000
• NM Limited Edition Burberry Taxi, $58,900
• "His and Her" Personalized Action Figures, $7,500

2003

• His and Hers Robots, $400,000
• NM Limited-Edition BMW 645Ci Coupe, $75,170
• Luxury Ice Fishing House, starts at $27,000
• Mermaid suit, comes with a mermaid tail, faux pearl top, and swimming lessons, $10,000
• 44 carats (8.8 g) diamond ring, yellow diamond, can be inscribed with up to 2,000 characters, $800,000
• Bombardier Learjets, $7,737,000 to $12,743-000

2004

• Limited-Edition Maserati Quattroporte, $125,000
• Custom suit of armor, $20,000
• Modern Zeppelin NT, $10,000,000
• Grand Ole Opry Experience, $25,000
• NM "Las Vegas" Trike, $65,000
• Underwater Aviator, $1,700,000
• Haute Couture Valentino Gown, $325,000

2005

• Private concert with Elton John, $1.5 million
• IndyCar Series Simulator, $65,000 to $75,000
• Collection of Jewels with eight significant pieces of jewelry spanning the last three centuries, $1.2 million
• Dreamboat Limited-Edition Levitating Sculpture, $18,000 to $90,000
• NM Limited-Edition 2007 Lexus GS 450h, $65,000
• His & Hers Custom Photobooth, $20,000
• Grand Empire Railroad, $200,000
• Skycar Prototype, $3.5 million
• Tree Sculpture (an adult treehouse), $50,000

2006

• Virgin Galactic Charter to Space, $1.7 million
• Pencil Skyscraper by The Art Guys, $6,000 or $40,000
• His and Hers Twike Communicator Vehicle (Zero emission electric car system), $40,000
• GC Quad, $56,465
• Membership at The Club at Castiglion del Bosco, $3.8 million
• Jacques Fath Archives, $3.5 million
• Limited edition pet homes, $5,000 and $7,000
• Backyard Water Park, starts at $100,000
• All-Star Sports Celebrity Dream Package: Charity Auction, starts at $250,000
• Limited-Edition 2007 BMW M6 Convertible, $139,000

2008

• A backyard golf course custom-designed by champ Jack Nicklaus.
• $10 million Kentucky horse farm, complete with a stable of up to 15 thoroughbreds.
• Life-size Lego replicas of you and your beloved for $60,000
• $250,000 authentic Guinness pub
• $110,000 for a chance to shoot some hoops with the Harlem Globetrotters.
• $110,000 fighter motorcycle
• 35-year collection of every 45 rpm record listed on the Billboard Top 100 Rock and Pop charts through the end of 1990
• A Dallas Cowboys end zone in your backyard for $500,000.
• Limited-Edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series Sedan, $160,000

2009

• A customizable cupcake car for $25,000

The Christmas Book is available at stores for $15. However, the $15 will be credited back to customers with their first purchase from the catalog.

Other notable Christmas gifts

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.^[22]

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 royal 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."^[23]

Vehicles

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.^{[citation needed]}

1970 "His and Hers" Ford Thunderbird

1995 BMW Z3 James Bond edition (at $35,000)

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)Exclusive color was Ultra-Violet with Sand leather.

2003 BMW 645Ci

2004 Maserati Quattroporte (at $125,000)

2005 Lexus GS 450h (75 at $65,000)Crystalline Ice Exclusive Exterior color.

2006 BMW M6 Convertible only, Exclusive color was Ruby Black Exterior with Piano Black accents.

2007 Lexus LS600hL (100 to commemorate the Centennial of Neiman Marcus. Exclusive Exterior color is Truffle Mica.)

2008 BMW 7-Series (new 2009 completely redesigned 7 series, Exclusive Color was Diopside Black with Champagne Merino leather.

Criticism

Due to the high prices of much of its upscale merchandise, Neiman Marcus is sometimes called "Needless Markup."^[24]

Some animal-rights activists claim Neiman Marcus' fur sales contribute to the unnecessary deaths of millions of animals every year. While the company claims it is humane to farm animals for fur, other groups, such as PETA, cite the fact there are no laws ensuring humane care on US fur farms.^[25].

Neiman Marcus in popular culture

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.^{[citation needed]} 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's card and reminisces wistfully over past N-M purchases.^[26] The store was mentioned widely on the show Dharma and Greg as being a source for the upscale mother's clothes; moreover, the family's pair of Rottweilers are named Neiman and Marcus. A character on the TV series Gilmore Girls compares his ordinary measuring tape to that of the haughty matriarch, Emily Gilmore, telling her daughter: "Your mother got hers at Neiman Marcus. It’s platinum with gold leaf — it costs more than my car!"^[27]. Hilary Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air also frequented Neiman's. In an episode of Frasier, Niles's wife Maris is said to be en route to Dallas which she regards as her holy land because of it being the site of the first Neiman Marcus. It is also mentioned in the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy says that Sunnydale is "two hours on the freeway from 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 lyrics mention shopping at Neiman-Marcus after discovering her boyfriend/husband cheating on her. The computer 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."

In the song "Emotionless" on rapper Jim Jones' album, Hustler's P.O.M.E. (Product of My Environment) mentions Neiman Marcus in his line: "Neiman Marcus I'm in it, shopping and, $5,000 spent on pants, man."

In a dig at 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's expensive campaign wardrobe, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee referred to Palin in a pun as "Neiman Marxist" in promoting a web site called DressLikePalin.com, where visitors were shown the approximate price of items in the candidate's wardrobe and comparisons to what health care or work-clothing costs the same money could have paid.^[28] The same week, humorist Steve Young posted a satirical fake press-release claiming that Neiman Marcus was in talks to develop a Palinwear clothing line for its stores following the November 4 elections, including various fictitious clothing lines that spoofed the candidate's outdoorsman husband, their unmarried and pregnant daughter, and her assertion that Russia's proximity to her home state of Alaska gave her foreign-relations experience.^[29]

The "Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe" story

The store is featured in an urban legend involving a supposed recipe for its popular chocolate chip cookie.^[30] 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 modest $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:

• Prior to the emergence of the legend, the store did not have a chocolate chip cookie;^[31]
• 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.
• Neiman-Marcus for most of its history only accepted its own card and American Express.

Although the story is untrue, Neiman Marcus nonetheless published the cookie recipe to quell rumors. It was perfected in 1995 by Kevin Garvin and is featured on the company's website for free. It also is in the Neiman Marcus Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $45) by Mr. Garvin and John Harrisson.

Store locations

Neiman Marcus

There are 42 Neiman Marcus 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 newest opened in Bellevue, Washington, in September 2009.

Horchow Finale

The three Horchow Finale stores are located within the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex in Dallas, Grapevine, and Plano.

Last Call

The 26 Last Call stores can be found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.

Archives

The "Neiman-Marcus Collection," comprising early account books, advertising and Christmas Catalog layouts, files on charity activities, past awards and presentations, and a collection of Stanley Marcus's personal memorabilia, among many other items, is located in the Texas & Dallas History & Archives Division, 7th Floor, Main Library, Dallas Public Library, where it may be consulted by researchers.

Lloyd E. Lenard (1922-2008) wrote a master's degree thesis on the impact of Neiman Marcus on the American Southwest while he was a student at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Neiman Marcus hired Lenard to its management training program, but he soon returned to his native Louisiana, where he worked, first in advertising, and then insurance.

References

1. ^ Neiman, Abraham Lincoln from the Handbook of Texas Online
2. ^ ^{a b} William Schack, "Neiman-Marcus of Texas" (article), Commentary 24:3, 213, September 1957.
3. ^ ^{a b} Historical timeline, from Neiman Marcus Online
4. ^ Stanley Marcus Timeline Texas Monthly, March 2002
5. ^ Schack, p. 216.
6. ^ Frank X. Tolbert. Neiman-Marcus, Texas, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1953, page 5.
7. ^ Tolbert, 1953, page 11.
8. ^ Stanley Marcus, Advertising Hall of Fame
9. ^ Neiman Marcus in $5.1B buyout CNN Money, May 2, 2005
10. ^ Form 10-Q, from Neiman Marcus website March 8, 2007
11. ^ Neiman Marcus files lawsuit against credit card issuer, Dallas Business Journal, February 29, 2008
12. ^ Neiman Marcus, HSBC settle credit card lawsuit, Dallas Business Journal, May 5, 2008
13. ^ Rick Ratliff, Knight News Service, "The ultimate present: 2 Texas firms take pride in unusual gift offerings," The Lima News (Lima, Ohio), November 24, 1977
14. ^ ^{a b} "Mouse ranch — perfect Christmas gift," UPI story, The News (Port Arthur, Texas), October 6, 1974 — gives 1955 as date of introduction
15. ^ ^{a b c} Tom Johnson, "Junk for Xmas At $11,700," The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), December 23, 1966
16. ^ Murray Raphel. "An interview with Stanley Marcus," Direct Marketing, Vol. 58, No. 6, October 1995, pp. 22-25.
17. ^ Hope Strong, "Where's There's Life" (column), The Lima News (Lima, Ohio), April 4, 1971
18. ^ ^{a b} Jack Webb, Copley News Service,"Gifts for Millionaires," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 22, 1972
19. ^ Patrick J. Killen, United Press International, "Don't look a gift mule in the mouth," The Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), December 25, 1975
20. ^ William K. Stevens. "New era for Neiman Marcus: Can mystique survive amid expansion?" The New York Times, February 19, 1979.
21. ^ ^{a b} "Gift of the Century," Texas Monthly, Vol. 27, Issue 12, December 1999, p230.
22. ^ "Santa Claus Has a New Helper", Parade, December 24, 1961
23. ^ Jim Lovell with Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon), 2000, pages 50-51.
24. ^ Listing of four print references to the 'Needless Markup' nickname, including the Historical Dictionary of American Slang
25. ^ Neiman Carcass - About
26. ^ "Whitley's Last Supper," season four, episode 73 of A Different World, aired October 11, 1990.
27. ^ Transcript of "Dead Uncles and Vegetables," Gilmore Girls, Season 2, episode 17, first aired April 16, 2002
28. ^ Rose Ann DeMoro. "Hockey Mom or Neiman Marxist?," The Huffington Post, October 29, 2008.
29. ^ Steve Young. "Neiman Marcus and Sarah Palin Set Deal For Clothing Line After Election," October 24, 2008. (Note that the author designated the post's satirical nature by marking it "Filed Under: 2008 Election, John McCain, Kind of Satire, Sarah Palin."
30. ^ Cookie Legend, Snopes.com, Last accessed January 16, 2007.
31. ^ That's One Expensive Cookie, at breakthechain.org

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neiman Marcus

• Neiman Marcus
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