Of all the great documentaries made by Frederick Wiseman, none ranks higher for me than his 1983 opus, “The Store.” The film shows the merchandising and ad departments of Neiman Marcus struggling to stay a half-step ahead of the trends.
Apart from the fact that clothing looked better 20 years ago than it does now, the one thing that comes out is that Neiman Marcus was a fun place to work despite the pressure to produce.
And that was largely due to former president Stanley Marcus, who started working in the family owned business at age 21 and then took it over as president when he was 44. He created the Neiman Marcus we know today.
He was retired by the time Wiseman brought his cameras in, but his values remained.
Marcus was a man with a belief structure. For example, he felt that he had to earn what he had been given by his father.
He also believed that “no man is too big to go out and make a sale.” According to one report, Marcus personally convinced Dwight D. Eisenhower to buy his wife Mamie’s inaugural gown at the store.
Finally, he held the credo that you can’t build your business on the backs of your suppliers.
I have an insider’s perspective on this because my wife is a clothing designer. Among small vendors like her, Neiman Marcus was known for paying on time, and for not expecting its designers to take all the risk.
Finally, Marcus was a political liberal. Right or wrong, it was a courageous position to take in conservative Dallas.
As Enron implodes and we read daily about acts of corporate greed, it’s heartening to recall Marcus, a stand-up guy who took care of both his customers and employees.
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