We like Nordstrom’s chutzpah. Most retailers don’t like to be pinned down too closely about when a new store will open.
Some are willing to provide a season, such as “fall 2000,” when setting a target debut date, allowing a fudge factor when construction falls behind schedule. Others settle for simply giving a year, such as 2001. Even that would be cutting it close for a retailer such as Prada, which had the dubious honor of opening its Oak Street store more than a year behind schedule.
When it comes to setting a date, Seattle-based Nordstrom is fearless. A banner on its new Michigan Avenue store, which has been waving since last year, proudly proclaims the doors will open Sept. 22. The retailer already has sent out a “save the date” card for its opening soiree Sept. 20.
In keeping with that schedule, Nordstrom has named Greg Holland the manager of the Michigan Avenue store. Holland, who spent 10 years in Chicago in various posts with menswear retailers Mark Shale and Paul Stuart, began his Nordstrom career as a salesman in Troy, Mich., four short years ago.
ALL TIED UP: It’s sad but true: Men have many fewer fashion role models than women. Dad probably wasn’t a fashion plate, and Hollywood stars such as Bruce Willis believe a pair of jeans and black T-shirt is the height of fashion.
Who is stepping in to fill the male fashion void? None other than Regis Philbin, the host of the popular game show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
Philbin’s trademark outfit–shiny sateen ties paired with dark dress shirts in shades of the same color–is the hottest Father’s Day gift around, according to a survey of merchants at Woodfield mall.
Designers such as Tommy Hilfiger, Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole and Jhane Barnes have launched lines of sateen ties hoping to capitalize on the “Millionaire” look.
The trend is so hot that Philbin has partnered with men’s apparel maker Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. to develop his own line of neckties and dress shirts set to debut later this summer at Lord & Taylor and J.C. Penney Co.
Which leaves us wondering: Do men really need a celebrity to validate pairing a solid-colored shirt with a solid-color tie?
Maybe what some fathers really need is a subscription to GQ.
TEEN DREAMS: Internet retailers love teenagers. Many teens have grown up with the Internet and routinely spend hours of free time surfing the Web. Best of all, today’s young folks have more money to spend than ever.
That combination should add up to a nice chunk of e-change.
Here’s the bad news. Teenagers aren’t getting on the Web to shop, according to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the national accounting firm.
In fact, shopping ranks seventh among activities that draw teens to the Internet, behind sending e-mail, doing research, playing games, using chat rooms, downloading music and sending greeting cards. Only 2 percent of those surveyed cited shopping as the primary reason they go on-line.
If that weren’t bad enough, teens who are shopping have a much lower on-line purchasing rate than adult users. Only 31 percent of teens with Internet access have purchased a product on-line compared with 76 percent of adult Internet users. Another 25 percent of teens have shopped on-line without ever making a purchase.
That may come as a surprise to e-commerce entrepreneurs but it’s no surprise to us. Hanging out at the mall with friends beats the solitude of Internet shopping any day.
ON AGAIN: When the turnaround at Sears, Roebuck and Co. derailed early last year, Chief Executive Arthur Martinez put his corporate memoirs on hold.
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Now that Martinez is on his way out the door sometime before the end of the year, “The Hard Road to the Softer Side of Sears” may be back on track. Martinez is considering finishing the book, but when he would do so is “still up in the air,” said Sears spokesman Ron Culp.
If the book is revived, former baiduhai reporter Charles Madigan, who wrote the original , will handle the revision. Time Books, Martinez’s erstwhile publisher, will have the first right of refusal.