Ira Niemark passed away on April 20, 2019. Three years ago, we interviewed retail’s elder statesman about the future of retail, and the iconic department store that stole his heart.
Don’t tell Ira Neimark that the department store is dead.
At 93, Neimark may not be clocking in for work anymore, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an opinion about what the retail industry needs to do to energize the customer experience at the store level.
Ira Neimark is a man of the old school, and he can rattle off the names and competitive advantages of just about every department store that ever existed. But his heart belongs to Bergdorf Goodman, where for 17 years he established himself as “the benevolent dictator,” and catapulted the store to legendary status. He broke standards by being one of the only CEOs and General Managers to spend most of his time on the sales floor.
Neimark is a master raconteur and his three books, including his latest tome, The Rise of Bergdorf Goodman and the Fall of Bonwit Teller (2015, GamePlan Books,Inc.) is an insightful chronicle of New York’s golden age of luxury retail. While he says he is weary of interviews, we found that he still has plenty to say about the shortcomings of today’s department store.
BERTRAND PELLEGRIN: Department stores get plenty of scrutiny for not always measuring up to smaller scale boutiques, especially where customer service is concerned. Do you think department stores still have work to do?
IRA NEIMARK: The generation of executives operating retail stores today particularly department stores, are not familiar with the art of customer service. There are exceptions of course, but as a rule, most require a completely new mindset. Sales people, like spark plugs in a car, generate business. Their expense can easily be covered by a fair commission system.
So you think there’s a lack of investment in customer service training?
Customer Service has to start with the CEO. I observed for over 50 years, when the CEO believes in the customer comes first, since the customer pays our pay our salaries, then the whole organization gets on board. If the CEO is indifferent to customer service, so will his organization.
Besides customer service, what are some of the details that aren’t being delivered today?
What is missing is the excitement of something new every day. Target’s promotion of Designer clothes at ridiculously low prices is an excellent example of excitement bringing hoards of customers into their stores. Major fashion shows as major events also attract customers into stores.
In my own book, Branding the Man, I argue that by the early 2000’s, rather than mentor the male shopper, many American stores had begun to give in to the “casual business” attire that had taken over corporate America. Do you believe that men’s retail is still an important investment for retailers?
My experience both with Bergdorf Goodman Men and with Hermès, where I was a board member, showed that there are very many men of good taste and income who are interested in quality and appearance. These customers in most cases are above the age of 30. Even those of moderate income recognize the importance of “looking right”. There are others of all ages who have no sense of style, who wear casual T shirts and jeans to nearly all occasions. To them, Casual Friday is every day.
In your book, you emphasize that a store’s reputation is built on a consistent experience. What makes that more difficult today than before?
Most of my retail business experience has been with luxury retail and high end department stores. In all cases, no matter how large the store, the customer was made to feel welcome and treated as a valued asset.
I made a point of doing all my office work on a podium at the foot of the escalator. I made sure that every customer was taken care of on the selling floor. I walked around and observed sales people and customers. I call it an MBWA degree. Management By Walking Around.
So what are retail executives cutting back on?
Things like unbelievable store hours, staggered sales people, or recording the store’s telephone operators. These reinforce the importance of consistent customer satisfaction.
It’s easy to say “things were better before than they are now.” In your opinion, what modern retailer impresses you?
There is one retailer who in my opinion, consistently stands out and that’s Nordstrom.The family running that business, more than many others, understands how their customers would like to be treated. Their continued success, due to outstanding customer service, is an exception to the rule. But It should not be an exception, it should be the goal of all retailers.
It’s not often that a pair of shoes stops me in my tracks but Yves Saint Laurent’s now iconic Jonny Boot managed to do just that to me, back in the golden age of Tom Ford.
When I first saw them they looked far too louche to be taken seriously. Uh.. are you wearing high heels?
“It’s a Cuban heel,” I was informed. Indeed, according to Kenny Abiog,former YSL’s men’s buyer for the U.S., the shoe was not exactly a runaway success for the brand when it was launched in 2004.
“Even I looked at it and thought it was the kind of shoe my hairdresser would wear,” said Abiog, who we met in San Francisco while he attended to the funereal task of packing up the shuttered YSL boutique on Maiden Lane.
However in very little time the Jonny Boot became one of designer Tom Ford’s most coveted products and at one point the Jonny Boot accounted for the lion’s share of the label’s men’s wear profits. The Cult of Jonny.
“A store would get a shipment of 24 pairs on a Friday and by Monday there would be only eight left,” recalled Abiog.
I tried on a pair and for a brief moment I had the uneasy feeling of wearing a pair of stilettos. But after a few awkward struts, I was smitten and bought one of the last Jonny’s available: a buttery soft, leather wing-tip in a limited edition of 142 pairs, with mine being number 78. Back then, they sold for $795, which in today’s dollars would be closer to $900. On eBay, a pristine pair now sells for close to $2,000; those in an exotic skin, a good deal more.
Mind you, these are not shoes for the shy or timid: to stand in these shoes, one must stand T A L L. Comic relief can be had in watching the uninitiated try to walk in them. Some slouch, others stumble, and then there are those who walk very slowly, as if on stilts.
Under Tom Ford, the Jonny was a runway success, such that even under subsequent creative director Stefano Pilati’s reign, the Jonny Boot continued to be available at select boutiques. But shortly after Pilati was shown the door, his successor was quick to pull it off the shelves.
That would be Hedi Slimane, who clearly wishes he had thought of the Jonny himself, which is why he’s literally put his own mark on the shoe. It is now called the “Hedi.” It’s lower than the Jonny but if you still want to get high — I mean with your shoes — then ask for the “French 85”: yup, that’s 85mm of heel, honey.
On a recent stop at one of the mausoleum-like Saint Laurent boutiques ( part of Slimane’s new “vision” for the brand), the sales associate practically scoffed when I mentioned the Jonny boot. “Oh no, that’s gone. The new creative director has made his own boot,” as he gestures towards the Hedi boots that line a wall. He looked at me as if I was Rip Van Winkle. “We do get some people who ask about the Jonny from time to time, but not that often.”
Along a back wall full of Punk-inspired attire like creepers and studded belts sat a pair of silver Wonder Woman-style boots emblazoned with red stars and blue stripes. Hardly something I could imagine myself in — let alone the brand’s namesake, Yves Saint Laurent. Then again, who knows? I didn’t think I’d wear Jonny’s either. “The Chinese love these,” reported another store associate. “Don’t ask me why, but they’ve been selling really well with them.”