Family Business

A limited partnership controlled by members of the Nordstrom family has announced plans to sell up to 2.7 million share of the Seattle-based retailer's common stock.

The Elmer and Katharine Nordstrom Family Interests owns 10.9 million — or 8 percent — of Nordstrom's outstanding shares and is proposing to sell a portion of its holdings in order to diversify its financial assets. John N. Nordstrom, a company director, and James F. Nordstrom Jr., corporate merchandise manager, children's shoes, are the only partners of the partnership who are active in the retail operations. The partnership has an additional 20 members of the family , among whom J. Daniel Nordstrom, William E. Nordstrom and James A. Nordstrom are former employees.

Chairman Bruce Nordstrom; president Blake Nordstrom; president, full-line stores, Peter Nordstrom; and executive vp, full-line stores, Erik Nordstrom, are not partners of the partnership.

“We want to be clear that this action by the partnership is an independent investment decision driven simply by the partnership's desire to diversify its financial assets,” said Bruce Nordstrom. “The . . . management team is wholly committed to the future success of Nordstrom Inc.”