for other uses see nordstrom disambiguation . coordinates 47 36 45 n 122 20 11 w 47.61237 n 122.3365 w 47.61237 ; 122.3365 nordstrom inc. type public traded as nyse jwn s & p 500 component industry retail founded 1901 1901 founder john w. nordstrom carl f. wallin headquarters seattle washington united states number of locations nordstrom 121 nordstrom rack 205 trunk club 5 jeffrey 2 clearance store 1 1 key people enrique hernandez jr. chairman blake nordstrom president pete nordstrom president of merchandising erik nordstrom president of nordstrom direct jamie nordstrom president of stores mike koppel chief financial officer geevy thomas president nordstrom rack karen mckibbin president nordstrom canada products clothing footwear jewelry beauty restaurant espresso bar home furnishings and design and wedding revenue us 14.437 billion 2015 2 operating income us 1.101 billion 2015 2 net income us 600 million 2015 2 total assets us 7.698 billion 2015 3 us 9.245 billion 2014 4 total equity us 871 million 2015 5 number of employees 72 500 2015 6 subsidiaries hautelook nordstrom rack trunk club website nordstrom.com nordstrom inc. n rdstr m is an american chain of department stores headquartered in seattle washington . founded in 1901 by john w. nordstrom and carl f. wallin the company began as a shoe retailer and expanded its inventory to include clothing accessories handbags jewelry cosmetics and fragrances . select nordstrom stores also include wedding and home furnishings departments . the company has 334 stores operating in 39 states puerto rico and canada which includes 121 full line stores and 205 nordstrom rack stores five trunk club clubhouses two jeffrey boutiques and one clearance store . nordstrom also serves customers through nordstrom.com nordstromrack.com and its online private sale site hautelook . nordstrom inc. s common stock is publicly traded on the nyse under the symbol jwn . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 1970s 90s 1.3 2000 present 1.4 expansion into canada 1.5 puerto rico 2 sales events 3 recognition 4 references 5 external links history edit further information timeline of nordstrom early history edit nordstrom s headquarters and flagship store in former frederick & nelson flagship in downtown seattle . in 1887 at the age of 16 like many other swedes in the late 19th century john w. nordstrom immigrated to the united states in search of opportunity . he was born in the village of alvik nedar lule in northern sweden . his name at birth was johan nordstr m which he later anglicized to john nordstrom . after landing in new york he first began working in michigan . as he moved across the country he worked a series of menial jobs . he was able to save enough money to purchase a 20 acre 81 000 m2 potato farm in arlington washington near seattle . in 1897 he joined the klondike gold rush in canada s yukon territory leaving seattle . after two years of prospecting he finally struck gold but sold his disputed claim for 13 000 . 1 returning to seattle with his newfound wealth he married hilda carlson and looked for a business venture finally settling on a shoe store that opened in 1901 called wallin & nordstrom . carl f. wallin the co founder of the store was the owner of the adjacent shoe repair shop . john and hilda had five children three of whom would follow him into the family business everett w. 1903 elmer j. 1904 and lloyd n. nordstrom . by the time wallin & nordstrom opened their second store in seattle in 1923 elmer a recent graduate of the university of washington had enough experience to be placed in charge of its opening . 1 the exterior of a typical nordstrom department store . this one is the now closed location at the florida mall in orlando florida . in 1928 john w. nordstrom retired and sold his shares to two of his sons everett and elmer . in 1929 wallin also retired and sold his shares to them . the 1930 grand opening of the remodeled second avenue store marked the change of name to nordstrom . lloyd nordstrom subsequently joined the company in 1933 and the three brothers ran the business together for almost forty years . 7 by 1958 nordstrom had expanded to eight stores in two states but still only sold shoes . their expansion was based on customer service deep product offerings and full size ranges . apparel came with its purchase of best apparel of seattle in 1963 . the company s name was changed to nordstrom absolute best in 1969 . 1 by 1968 the second generation debated selling the company as everett neared retirement . instead they were convinced by the third generation nordstroms bruce a. everett s son james f. and john n. elmer s two sons together with john a. jack macmillan married to lloyd s daughter to take the company public instead and allow the cousins to take over the business . in 1971 the company was taken public on nasdaq under the ticker nobe nordstrom best . in 1973 best was dropped from the company s name and the store assumed its current name of nordstrom . 8 it was moved to the new york stock exchange in 1999 under the ticker symbol jwn after john w. nordstrom its founder . 1 1970s 90s edit the previous nordstrom logo in use from 1973 through 1991 . by 1975 nordstrom expanded into alaska the only time by acquisition by purchasing northern commercial company and opened its first nordstrom rack clearance store in seattle . a strong northwest regional retailer with sales already approaching 250 million making it the third largest specialty retailer in the united states the company opened its first southern california store at south coast plaza in costa mesa in 1978 . 9 by the early 1990s it had opened 26 stores plus racks in california . subsequent expansion relied on creating a strongly decentralized regional structure beginning with the northeast in the tysons corner center in virginia 1988 the midwest in the oakbrook center in illinois 1991 the southeast in atlanta 1998 and the southwest in dallas 1996 . in a new region the initial store was used as a base for training and recruitment for subsequent expansion and was usually backed by its own distribution center . from 1978 to 1995 nordstrom opened a total of 46 full line department stores . 10 in 1976 nordstrom opened a series of stores called place two to sell a more limited selection of apparel in smaller markets . by 1983 there were ten place two stores but the cost of upgrading the smaller stores especially from a systems perspective outweighed the benefit and the division was discontinued . 11 the company also expanded into direct sales in 1993 beginning with a catalog division 12 led by john n. s son dan that was followed by an e commerce business . nordstrom.com s fulfillment and contact centers are located in cedar rapids iowa and seattle washington . currently it has distribution centers in ontario california ; newark california ; portland oregon ; dubuque iowa ; upper marlboro maryland ; and gainesville florida . nordstrom fsb a wholly owned subsidiary of nordstrom inc. is a federally chartered savings bank doing business as nordstrom bank . it was formed in 1991 in scottsdale arizona with its customer contact center in centennial colorado . nordstrom fsb was formerly known as nordstrom national credit bank and changed its name to nordstrom fsb in march 2000 . the bank offers various banking and credit products such as nordstrom signature visa nordstrom retail credit and debit cards interest bearing checking accounts check cards and certificates of deposits . it offers nordstrom customers cards under nordstrom rewards its customer loyalty program where customers earn points when making purchases with the card at nordstrom and other retailers . other rewards include nordstrom notes which are redeemed or used like cash in stores for new purchases and the nordstrom signature visa card also has an optional travel leisure rewards feature . the nordstrom rewards program features 4 levels of status depending on annual spending and offers various promotional times throughout the year to earn double triple and even ten times points . 13 14 beginning in 1995 the fourth generation of brothers and cousins served as co presidents for a time . after john whitacre served as the first non nordstrom ceo in 1997 15 in 2001 the family reasserted its control with the sons of bruce a. blake erik and peter assuming senior roles in the company which they continue to hold . 16 in 1998 nordstrom replaced its downtown seattle store with a new flagship location in the former frederick & nelson building across the street . at 383 000 square feet 35 600 m2 the downtown seattle location is the chain s largest store . by contrast the smallest nordstrom store as of september 2008 opened in 1980 in salem oregon with a total area of just under 72 000 square feet 6 700 m2 . 2000 present edit nordstrom rack the company s off price clearance store nordstrom sold its stand alone boutique chain fa onnable in 2007 though it still offers that label in its lineup . in february 2011 nordstrom announced the acquisition of hautelook an la based online retailer that offers flash sales on designer goods . the deal included nordstrom paying 180 million in stock and a three year earn out payment based on hautelook s financial performance . 17 a nordstrom rack store in hillsboro oregon on may 26 2011 nordstrom announced that they would be closing the downtown indianapolis indiana circle center mall location due to declining business at the site . the remaining location on the north side of the city at the fashion mall at keystone as well as the future nordstrom rack store in the rivers edge shopping center also on the north side remained as the only two locations in the state . erik nordstrom president of stores at nordstrom stated we ve enjoyed serving our customers in downtown indianapolis but unfortunately our business has declined over the long term for some time and despite our efforts to turn things around we don t see the outlook significantly changing . 18 in august 2011 nordstrom opened the store treasure & bond in soho new york . intended to test the waters of the tumultuous high end department store scene in new york all profits of treasure & bond are donated to charity . the customer base of the smaller store is thought to be the younger more free willed sister of the typical nordstrom customer . 19 nordstrom announced plans to open a nordstrom rack in milwaukee in 2014 . 20 in late november 2012 nordstrom announced that they would also be opening a full line nordstrom department store in 2015 in milwaukee at mayfair mall a half mile away from the nordstrom rack location . milwaukee was the largest metropolitan area in the country that did not have a nordstrom until 2015 . such unmet demand was highlighted in nordstrom s decision to open in the milwaukee area . 21 on january 4 2013 nordstrom confirmed a new location in the minneapolis saint paul metropolitan region . to be located at the ridgedale center it would be the second in the minneapolis saint paul area . following the success of its mall of america opening in 1991 nordstrom has sought to expand in the twin cities market . 22 plans were originally made in 2007 to open at ridgedale center in 2011 only to be canceled in 2009 . 23 it opened in september 2015 . nordstrom opened its first rack location in philadelphia in the fall of 2014 . 24 in the fall of 2015 nordstrom opened their first nordstrom rack store in delaware . 25 the company plans