John W. Nordstrom - Nordstrom, Inc.

Nordstrom, Inc.

In Seattle, Nordstrom attended business school,building two rental houses on Capitol Hill and decided to join his friend, Carl Wallin, in the shoe business. He and Carl opened Wallin & Nordstrom, a shoe store, at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street in 1901. From that first shoe store grew the Nordstrom retail empire. John Nordstrom retired in 1928 selling his stake to his sons Everett Nordstrom and Elmer Nordstrom. Everett and Elmer also acquired Carl Wallin's share of the company. John's third son Lloyd Nordstrom joined the company as a part owner in 1933. Members of the Nordstrom family still own 20% of Nordstrom Inc and closely supervise the chain. Ironically John Nordstrom never had a passion for the shoe business, although he continued to show up at the shoe store almost daily into his mid 80s to chat with customers. His initials (JWN) are used as Nordstroms' ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.