JWN

Nordstrom Inc

A department store chain founded on gold-rush money. In 1901, Swedish immigrant John W. Nordstrom used the stake he struck in Alaska's Klondike Gold Rush to open a Seattle shoe shop called Wallin & Nordstrom with a shoemaker he met there. Today the company runs full-line Nordstrom stores and its discount arm, Nordstrom Rack, selling apparel, shoes, and accessories to shoppers across the United States. Fun fact: its founders literally bankrolled the first store with gold panned in the Klondike.