1901 - Nordstrom Opens his first Store

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This shoe store, near the corner of 4th and Pike, marks the first Nordstrom Store.

John Nordstrom managed to keep the store open, and his family employed, progressively enlarging the store, spreading into other cities, states, and eventually become a nation-wide chain of stores with a reputation for better-than-average products at a reasonable price.

The American Dream Realized.

John Nordstrom stepped off a boat onto Ellis Island in the mid 1880's with nothing more than $5 in the pocket of his only suit, and a zeal to live the American Dream.  He was a farmer from northern Sweden, and didn't speak a word of English.

Not finding the hustle of New York to his liking, he worked his way west, working for the rail lines loading freight.  Once here in Seattle, he loaded bricks, and was a logger for a while.

He got bit by the Gold Rush Bug, and traveled to the Klondike gold fields by way of a steamer to Skagway, Alaska.  He invested on a claim on Gold Run, but the claim was challenged and while he had a solid holding of a valid claim, the suit threatened to bankrupt him.  Nordstrom jumped at an offer of $30,000 for the claim, and returned to the warmer climate of Seattle.

Nordstrom bought a store front property  with a 20-foot frontage near the corner of 4th Ave and Pike St, and started selling shoes.  Business was slow, but Nordstrom developed an ability to find the balance between what people wanted, and what was different than other shoe sellers in the area.

In 1923, Nordstrom opened a second store in the University District.  5 years later,  at the age of 57, he sold his business to his sons, Everett and Elmer, who quickly purchased a larger store front on 2nd Avenue, partnering with their younger brother, Lloyd, just as the Depression set in.

The brothers managed to survive the Depression in fairly good shape, and in 1937, they moved their store to a better location on 5th Avenue,  which fronted the whole block from Pike St to Pine St, and occupied nearly half the block.  Business did well, and by 1959, Nordstrom's was the largest independently owned shoe store in the country.

In the 1960's, the brothers decided to expand beyond shoes, and in 1963 (the same year their father John Nordstrom died) they purchased Best's Apparel.  They expanded beyond the Seattle Metro Area, opening stores in Alaska, Oregon, California, and throughout Washington.  By 1985, Nordstrom's sales surpassed the numbers produced by Saks Fifth Avenue, placing them as the largest specialty store chain in the country.  In 1988, Nordstrom's expanded to the East Coast.

In 1998, The Nordstrom brothers moved the flagship store, and the Headquarters, to a larger building at 5th and Pine, which had housed Seattle's oldest department store, Frederick and Nelson, which occupies the entire city block.