Neiman Marcus Group history

In 1913 the original Neiman Marcus store, and most of its merchandise, was destroyed by a fire, the first of several in the company's history.

With capital raised through the sale of stock to a handful of manufacturing companies, the new building was ready for business by the autumn of 1914.

In 1926 Al and Carrie Neiman were divorced, and Neiman's interest in the store was bought out by the Marcus family.

A big expansion project at the store was completed in 1927, following the acquisition of some property next door.

By 1929, the store's net sales had reached $3.6 million.

In 1952 a new service building was opened to handle merchandise for both stores.

1955: Expansion outside Dallas begins with the opening of a store in Houston.

The company's reputation for lavish display grew along with its stores, as the company inaugurated the annual Neiman Marcus Fortnight in 1957.

Another popular annual publicity stunt was launched in 1959.

Another popular annual publicity stunt was launched in 1960.

Another generation of Marcuses came on board in 1963, when Stanley's son Richard Marcus joined the company as a buyer.

In 1965, with the population of suburban Dallas growing by leaps and bounds, the Preston Center store was closed, and a new store, more than twice as big, was opened at NorthPark Center, also in the Dallas suburbs.

1968: Company merges into Broadway-Hale Stores, Inc. (later Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc.), aiding further expansion.

Son Richard was named chairman and CEO of Neiman Marcus in 1979.

By 1984, however, it was clear that not all of the new stores were performing as well as expected against rivals like Bloomingdale's and Sak's Fifth Avenue.

The company expanded Neiman Marcus’s mail-order business in 1988 by acquiring The Horchow Collection, a luxury catalog company.

Continuing as CEO of the parent company, Neiman Marcus Group, was Robert J. Tarr, who assumed the CEO position in 1991 and was also the CEO of Harcourt General.

General Cinema, meantime, was renamed Harcourt General, Inc. in 1993.

1995: Contempo Casuals chain is sold to Wet Seal, Inc.

By mid-1996 the number of Neiman Marcus stores had grown to 29, and the chain had its best year ever during fiscal 1996, posting record operating earnings of $134 million on record sales of $1.6 billion, the latter being a 12 percent increase over the previous year.

Finally, in October 1999, neimanmarcus.com was launched as the chain's e-commerce web site.

In May 2001 Tansky was named CEO of Neiman Marcus Group.