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From Sole to Somm
Nordstrom Arden Fair — Kid’s Shoes — Chapter 13
Jim A. Nordstrom had confidence in me to be successful. Entering a new division took me out of my comfort zone but it forced me to learn new things and gave me the opportunity to learn the Buyer role on a much smaller scale.
I learned something about team development and thinking outside the box. The kid’s areas didn’t always get the same attention as the women’s area so we had to be creative.
I learned so much in this position, it was a defining moment for my career. Sometimes we need to be open to learning new things and different ways to do them. As we used to say in the Zappos culture “Embrace and drive change”. In the next year I did just that…
So, kid’s shoes was a whole different world. This department didn’t get the love Women’s shoes received. I’m not saying from the store manager but more about budgets, ads, stuff like that. And with that, the volume was smaller and so was the open to buy. But it was a great starting point for me to learn about the art of buying.
So, in talking with seasoned buyers like Pam Tidmore, in the kid’s world, they would do fun things to bring people in.
