Nordstrom - Fashion Company Profile
Nordstrom is the Seattle fashion retailer founded as a shoe store in 1901 - a public company for more than fifty years that returned to family ownership in May 2025, when the Nordstrom family and El Puerto de Liverpool completed their $6.25 billion take-private.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - a private fashion retailer since May 20, 2025, owned by the Nordstrom family (50.1%) and El Puerto de Liverpool (49.9%)
- Type
- Private - formerly public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: JWN) from 1971 until the $6.25 billion take-private closed in May 2025
- Headquarters
- Seattle, Washington, United States
- Founded
- 1901, in Seattle, Washington, by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin, as the Wallin & Nordstrom shoe store
Company Profile
Current stores and assortments are on the Nordstrom website, linked above. As a department store retailer itself, Nordstrom carries no Amazon/eBay shop box here - its own site is the destination. The one fact that changes how every older figure on this page should be read is ownership: Nordstrom was publicly traded as NYSE: JWN from 1971 until May 20, 2025, when the Nordstrom family (50.1%) and Mexican retailer El Puerto de Liverpool (49.9%) completed their acquisition at $24.25 per share, delisting the stock; Erik and Pete Nordstrom, great-grandsons of the founder, lead the private company as co-CEOs. The fuller record - the five-dollar arrival from Sweden, the Klondike stake, Wallin & Nordstrom, the 1971 listing and the national expansion - is kept in full on the history page.
In 1887, a 16-year-old boy left Sweden for the promise of New York City, arriving with only five dollars in his pocket and unable to speak a word of English. His name was John W. Nordstrom. The first years were hard: he labored in mines and logging camps crossing the United States to California and Washington. Then one morning in 1897 he read the front-page headline, Gold Found in the Klondike in Alaska, and the very next day made plans to head north. Within two years John had earned $13,000 in a gold mine stake and returned to Seattle, eager to invest, having befriended Carl Wallin, who owned a shoe repair shop in downtown Seattle.
Nordstrom History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Nordstrom History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
Is Nordstrom still a public company?
No. Nordstrom was taken private on May 20, 2025 by the Nordstrom family and El Puerto de Liverpool in a $6.25 billion deal at $24.25 per share. Its NYSE: JWN stock was delisted; the family holds 50.1% and Liverpool 49.9%.
When was Nordstrom founded?
In 1901, in Seattle, Washington, when John W. Nordstrom - who had arrived from Sweden in 1887 with five dollars - opened the Wallin & Nordstrom shoe store with shoemaker Carl F. Wallin, funded partly by a Klondike gold stake.
Who runs Nordstrom now?
Erik and Pete Nordstrom, great-grandsons of the founder, serve as co-CEOs of the private company owned by their family and El Puerto de Liverpool.
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