Minding the Store

7. Waiting for the War to End

7 Waiting for the War to End DESPITE HIS DRIVING ENERGY, or perhaps because of it, my father's health was fragile. He had hypertension, necessitating periods of rest and relaxation which were hard to persuade him to take, so wrapped up was he in the whole fabric of his business. However, upon my return to the store, he felt able to go for vacations to California and Florida, keeping in touch with me daily by phone to tell me about interesting items he had observed in the shops and what the well-dressed women were wearing at the best restaurants. I took advantage of some of his absences to implement new policies or procedures which would have been difficult to effect had he been on hand. He never disagreed with my decisions after the fact. Aunt Carrie had, from time to time, dabbled in precious jewelry for the store, buying on occasion a ruby-studded bracelet or a sapphire domed ring, always selling them to her personal customers . I was impressed by her success, so I suggested that we open a special department for fine jewelry. The climate seemed right, with a growing affluent public and a minimum of local competition. Aunt Carrie was all for it but my father had a few reservations based on the capital requirements for such an operation and on his knowledge that jewelry was rarely sold at a fixed price. From the beginning of the store, he had been adamant about maintaining 125 WAITING FOR THE WAR TO END prices, assuring his customers and sales staff that "Neiman-Marcus is a one-price store," regardless of the size of the purchase or the name and standing of the customer. After deliberation he told me, "If you can assure me that you won't ever deviate from this policy, then go ahead; but remember, you have a whole store's reputation at stake. You can't cut prices in jewelry without endangering your fur, dress, and coat business." I assured him that I'd live up to the policy faithfully regardless of the temptations. We selected a little island on the first floor near the main entrance for our jewel presentation, and I went to the market to try to locate a jewelry buyer who had the necessary qualities of integrity and taste and a willingness to abide by our one-price policy. Finally I ran across Chapin Marcus (no relation), formerly a partner in the firm of Marcus & Company of Fifth Avenue, who accepted the challenge, although he warned me that we would be the only jewelry store in America which wouldn't break a price under some extenuating circumstance. He said, "The biggest and best jewelers on Fifth Avenue will make a special price if they see they are going to lose the sale to a competitor." I warned him that if he ever felt his resistance weakening to remember our initial conversation, and that if he ever broached the subject to me, he would be automatically fired. During our first year, we let a lot of customers walk out until they finally became convinced that Neiman-Marcus was perfectly willing to lose a $100,000 sale rather than cut one single dollar off the retail price. Prior to opening the new department, we decided to hold a preview of our collection in New York to get the benefit of the publicity which we could feed back to Dallas. My Texas-born friend Mary Martin had just opened in a new show on Broadway called "One Touch of Venus," so we invited her to be our special guest at a cocktail party at the Hotel Pierre at which we named an unusual necklace "One Touch of Venus" in her honor. Many friends from show business were on hand, as well as numerous New York and Texas socialites. We received wonderful press com126 WAITING FOR THE WAR TO END ments, which were duly incorporated into our opening advertisement in Dallas two days later. The authority of New York acceptance was a valuable ploy at that stage in the development of Texans' self-confidence. It worked then; it wouldn't today, as succeeding generations of Texas customers have become more sophisticated. A new department and a new buyer, strange to the city, required a great deal of personal effort on my part to introduce them to our best customers. As I chatted...