Shoe Knew His Stuff

John did.

John was a young Swedish immigrant. He worked in a sawmill in Seattle but it wasn’t much fun. So, one day, after reading a newspaper headline about the discovery of gold in the Klondike … he promptly quit and headed north to seek his fortune.

It was anything but easy … but luckily someone bought out John’s small claim and five years after reading that newspaper at the sawmill … he was back in Seattle with nice tidy sum of money in his pocket … and absolutely no idea what to do next. So he went to business school, built a couple of rental houses and even opened a shoe store with a partner downtown .. though shoes weren’t really his department.

Surprisingly John discovered he was unusually good at making sure customers were happy … the outstanding customer service he offered led to strong sales and then a second store … and then another. Soon clothing was added to go along with shoes … and the stores multiplied even more.

Today, the company John started has over 270 upscale fashion stores across North America and $12 billion in sales annually … and its ticker symbol, JWN, is John’s initials since the company and stores are still named after him … John W. Nordstrom.

Nordstrom is a Great Idea because there is often gold in delivering outstanding customer service and taking chances.