(3 of 3)
Neiman's salesgirls (a top one can earn as much as $25,000 a year), teaches them the fine points of low-pressure selling. They also learn to treat all customers alike, never knowing which unlikely looking shopper may prove to be the biggest spender. Once a girl in a sunbonnet and cotton dress came into Neiman's for a complete outfitting on her first visit to Dallas. In a few hours, she spent $10,000 of her father's new oil wealth. The last thing Neiman's sold her was a pair of shoes for her bare feet.
One reason for big sales, Stanley Marcus likes to boast, is that Neiman's is the only store carrying designs by every famous international designer. "At the store," says he, "a Dallas woman can examine under one roof what a New York City woman could see only by visiting 27 stores." Even in New York City, homesick Texas expatriates often call up the store long-distance to do their shopping at Neiman's. But its biggest accolade so far came from Texas-born Ike Eisenhower's wife, Mamie. She ordered her inaugural gown from Neiman's.
* Italy's Marchesa Olga di Gresy, cited for her Mirsa sweaters; Paris' Gilbert Orcel for his hats; Manhattan's Ben Sommers for his Capezio footwear; Manhattan's Charles James for his dresses.