is an upscale, specialty retail
Department Store , operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the
United States . The company is headquartered in
Dallas ,
Texas , and competes with such establishments as
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.
in
Downtown Dallas, Texas .]]
Herbert Marcus, Sr., a former buyer with Dallas'
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.
Historical timeline , from Neiman Marcus Online By 1914, Neiman Marcus reopened in its new, permanent location, on
Main Street 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.
Stanley Marcus Timeline ''Texas Monthly'', March 2002 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.'"Schack, p. 216.
In the 50's and 60's
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 1969, 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 ,
Boston , and
Las Vegas .
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 shut. Some believe the locations were wrong and Neiman Marcus officials have hinted the concept might be resurrected. 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.CommentaryNM Historical Timeline
Stanley Marcus, Advertising Hall of Fame 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 .
Neiman Marcus in $5.1B buyout CNN Money, May 2, 2005
Unlike many of its department-store contemporaries, 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 — 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 38 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 '' clearance centers and 3 Horchow Finale Furniture Outlets. These store operations total more than 5 million square feet (500,000 m&
2) gross. Competitors in the luxury retail segment include
Saks Fifth Avenue and
Barneys New York .
located in
Boca Raton, Florida .]]
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
{Link without Title} 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.
Form 10-Q , from Neiman Marcus website March 8, 2007
Since 1987, Neiman Marcus has accepted merchandise transactions using 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. (Neiman Marcus has accepted all major credit cards for online purchases since the website opened in 1999.) After Neiman Marcus sold its store credit card business to
HSBC in mid-2005 and the forthcoming expiration of the company's exclusive ten-year agreement with American Express later in 2007, some insiders say that the company may make the tested changes chainwide sometime in 2007.
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; however, the card network that HSBC uses for this card was not specified (though it is highly likely to be an American Express-branded card). The five-year agreement Neiman Marcus has with HSBC does allow for such a card.
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.
In the fall of
2004 , Neiman Marcus launched a new store within a store concept, ''theshowroom 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 six Neiman Marcus stores that house the collection are located in
Plano-Dallas MSA (
Willow Bend ),
San Francisco (
Union Square ),
Scottsdale (
Fashion Square ),
Chicago (
Michigan Avenue ),
Oak Brook (
Oakbrook Center ) and
Minneapolis (
Nicollet Mall ).
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 in
Texas . Though Horchow items are also found in Neiman Marcus Last Call stores, the Horchow Finale stores focus on furniture & home items. The three Horchow Finale Stores are located in the Dallas,
Texas area.
Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Centers is Neiman Marcus' version of an outlet store. They are featured around the
United States at a small number of outlet centers, with many found in outlet centers operated by Chelsea Premium Outlets. They range from 20,000 - 45,000 square feet of selling space and sell clearance women's & men's apparel, shoes, jewelry, accessories, furniture, & home accessories that were found in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores along with the Horchow catalog. Neiman Marcus credit card holders can receive an additional 5% discount on Last Call Clearance Center purchases by using their Neiman Marcus card (other credit cards including American Express, MasterCard, and Visa are also accepted). Currently, there are 18 Last Call Clearance Centers in the US. The newest (19th) location will open soon at the new Philadelphia Premium Outlets in
Limerick, Pennsylvania .
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.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"Mouse ranch — perfect Christmas gift," UPI story, ''The News'' (Port Arthur, Texas), October 6, 1974 — gives 1955 as date of introductionTom Johnson, "Junk for Xmas At $11,700," ''The Gettysburg Times'' (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), December 23, 1966
Other Fantasy Gifts offered over the years:
Johnson, "Junk for Xmas," 1966
- 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.
Johnson, "Junk for Xmas," 1966
- 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)
Hope Strong, "Where's There's Life" (column), ''The Lima News'' (Lima, Ohio), April 4, 1971
- 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.)
Jack Webb, Copley News Service,"Gifts for Millionaires," ''Iowa City Press-Citizen'', November 22, 1972
- 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)
Jack Webb, Copley News Service,"Gifts for Millionaires," ''Iowa City Press-Citizen'', November 22, 1972
- $5 of candy pebbles in a jar
- an $8 set of Worry Beads
- a $250,000 bag of uncut Diamond s
- 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
"Mouse ranch," 1974
- the "N-Bar-M Christmas Book Mouse Ranch," 12 square feet, "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-carat 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 Spear heads from the Persian Wars (1500 to 700 B.C.E.) — $35
Patrick J. Killen, United Press International, "Don't look a gift mule in the mouth," ''The Herald'' (Arlington Heights, Illinois), December 25, 1975
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 ."Santa Claus Has a New Helper", ''Parade'', December 24, 1961
Neiman Marcus has often offered limited-edition
Automobile s 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.
:1970 "His and Hers"
Ford Thunderbird
:1995
BMW Z3 James Bond edition
: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)
: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.)
An
Apocryphal Story holds that 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 shiny 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."
Due to the high prices of much of its upscale merchandise, Neiman Marcus is sometimes called "Needless Markups."
Listing of four print references to the 'Needless Markup' nickname , including the ''Historical Dictionary of American Slang''
Some animal-rights activists claim that Neiman Marcus' fur sales contribute to the unnecessary deaths of millions of animals every year. While the company claims that it is humane to farm animals for fur, other groups, such as
PETA , cite the fact that there are no laws ensuring humane care on US fur farms.
Neiman Carcass - About
The store is featured in an , 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: (1) Neiman Marcus does not accept Visa for any in-store purchase (although Visa is accepted for online purchases through the company's website); (2) prior to the emergence of the legend, the store did not ''have'' a chocolate chip cookie;
That's One Expensive Cookie , at breakthechain.org and (3) 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.) Although the story is untrue, Neiman Marcus nonetheless posted a cookie recipe on its web site to quell rumors.
Neiman Marcus' international notoriety has led to its inclusion in many popular media. Television '' also frequented Neiman's.
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 adventure 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 Lawsuit s; 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" off of Jim Jones'lates album, Juelz Santana mentions Neiman Marcus in his line: "Neiman Marcus I'm in it, shopping and, $5,000 spent on pants, man."
Neiman Marcus currently has 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 .
A comprehensive list of former, current, and future stores can be found in the external links below.
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.
