line expected to attract customers when they walk in the store. Many customers were complaining about this, and when the family took back over, the "assault" on customers has been halted. Also halted is the idea of discretionary purchases, which was the cause for many of the chain's financial woes, and a more universal system of centralized purchasing was put in place. This ties in with another area of influence, the store's "no questions asked" return policy. A book called "The Nordstrom Way" by Robert Spector, was published in 1996, and was purported to be the "inside story" of the company's fabled customer service. What was not mentioned in the publicity for the book, and was revealed when the family resumed control, was that the author was a consultant hired by Nordstrom's to train employees. Many of the ideas presented in Spector's book were influenced by Scientology, and the book was more or less banned when the family came back in control.
The "shopping as entertainment" concept is carried out by the fact that most stores have live piano music and some feature day spas, restaurants, and espresso bars. According to a Hoover's analysis "The family-run company found itself on the bottom shelf after its buyers lost track of changing fashion trends. To compensate, Nordstrom has cut inventory and its ranks of buyers. It has also implemented a new trend-tracking system and plans to use online investments to better study the shopping trends of upscale shoppers. The Nordstrom family owns about one-third of the company's stock" (Hoover's Online).
The company's most recent 10K, filed April 7, 2000 states,
The Company's business is highly competitive. Its stores compete with other national, regional and local retail establishments within its operating areas which carry similar lines of merchandise, including department stores, specialty stores, boutiques, and mail order and internet businesses. The Company believes the princip...