History:
Nordstrom arose in Seattle, Washington in 1901 by a man named John W. Nordstrom. It began as a simple and small shoe store, and nobody knew just how big it would eventually become. Since 1901, the store has been passed down through several different family members in the Nordstrom family. In 1971, the company went public, and it quickly became the largest volume retailer on the West Coast. Just a few short years later in 1973, Nordstrom decided to open its first Nordstrom Rack store—a clearance store to appeal to more customers. Since then, Nordstrom has been on the up and has been experiencing a lot of great success.
Today, Nordstrom is under the ownership of a few fourth generation Nordstrom family members, and has been having a great deal of success. In 2011, Nordstrom reached an all-time record for total net sales equaling about $10.5 billion (Nordstrom Website). They currently have 263 open stores in 35 states in the United States. They have 117 full-line stores, 143 Nordstrom Rack clearance stores, and 3 other miscellaneous stores called Jeffrey Boutique (Nordstrom Website).