Owners of valuable works of art don't give to institutions that don't provide good air conditioning and have good shows.
Running those poor steers back and forth in the heat is ridiculous. What they ought to do is put the steers in the convention hall and run the delegates.
The department store was a product of the 19th century and became a very important institution as America went into the 20th century. It provided show places in developing towns like Terre Haute, Sacramento, and Dallas.
It was at the department store where people got away from provincialism.
I'd like to put together a think tank of people - economists, futurists, city planners, a few department-store people - to discuss reinventing the department store.
As goods become more standardized - and mass production has that effect, standardizing product - the distinguishing factor between one store and another is going to be how skillful stores are in satisfying customers and making it a pleasant experience instead of a hostile experience.
Maybe it's my age that makes me very conscious of loose threads, but I don't think that's an earmark of a fine product. And whenever I have a deep-seated feeling like that, I convey it to the person who made it. Sometimes they curse me, and sometimes they thank me.
Running a fashion business takes the heart of a good gambler. You're always dealing with new things. And there's no guarantee that anything new is going to be successful.
If the salesperson is busy, he or she should nod and say 'I'll be with you in a few moments,' so the customer won't mind waiting.
Since merchandise creativity is hampered by the reluctance of manufacturers to do special things for an individual store, it might be well to increase purchases in foreign markets more able to accept innovative ideas.
I'm lucky that I was in retailing during the time that I call the golden age of retailing.
I thought it was unfair to ask school kids to integrate first. The parents should lead the way, not send out the children as advance troops.
It ought to be self-evident common sense that service is important to sales. But it's not.
What we learned was that the collective glamour of a specialty store could sell a lot of merchandise.
Other than things like toothpaste, I don't buy anything that isn't sold to me.
I thought: 'It would be great to create a series of clothes that looked like that tree.' Clothes that gave you the green of the leaf and the warm brown of the underside of that leaf and the vanilla colored blossom.
I love to sell, to visualize something for someone and make them see it.
