Nordstrom board to change

Nordstrom has begun the changing of the guard.

The upscale fashion retailer will announce its new board chairman May 23 at the company's annual shareholders meeting in downtown Seattle.

Bruce Nordstrom, 72, chairman since August 2000 and grandson of the store's founder, plans to retire at the meeting.

John N. Nordstrom, a company director since 1966, and Alfred Osborne Jr., a director since 1987, also will retire.

The current Nordstrom team has engineered a remarkable turnaround since taking over in 2000, partly by investing a substantial amount in a computerized inventory system.

This new technology gave the company's buyers and salespeople the data to make smarter decisions about what it sells.

By choosing handbags, designer jeans and shoes in the right styles, quantities and colors, the company has been able to sell more of these items at full price.

Nordstrom's stock hit an all-time high on Jan. 30 of $42.50. Its shares have risen 46.7 percent in the past 52 weeks.

The retailer meanwhile plans to add two additional third-generation Nordstroms to its board.

Executive vice presidents Erik Nordstrom and Peter Nordstrom are both up for election at the annual meeting, along with seven other current board members.

Erik Nordstrom, 42, is president of stores. Peter Nordstrom, 44, is president of merchandising.

Their brother and company president, Blake Nordstrom, 45, joined the board last year.

All three are the sons of Bruce Nordstrom.

The board will also ask shareholders to increase the maximum number of shares authorized by the company's employee stock-purchase plan by 2.4 million shares.

Nordstrom said in its proxy that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals intends to present a shareholder proposal from the floor of the annual meeting related to the Australian merino wool industry.

Nordstrom agreed in May 2005 to give purchasing preference to suppliers that don't use mulesing to collect wool from sheep, after meeting with PETA officials on the day of its annual meeting.

Mulesing, used in the Australian wool industry, involves removing the wool-bearing skin from the hindquarters of the sheep.

Nordstrom is a member of the Business for Social Responsibility group, a collection of retailers that have urged the wool industry to find alternatives to the practice.

Monica Soto Ouchi: 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com