A Great American Retailer: John Wanamaker

​"Let us understand the real thing; that it is not the building that makes the business, it is not the merchandise that makes the business, it is the people.

"I astonished someone last week, as I said: “When I go downstairs and look around, I look very little at the merchandise. I can tell by the air whether the store is in proper form.

"It is the people that I look at, the people. I cannot help but see the goods, but I see not the goods as much as the people. I wonder, as I look at the beautiful embroidery, I wonder how some one thought of the color.

​"It is all people, people, people.​"

John Wanamaker, The Business Biography of John Wanamaker​

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​It seems all too predictable that our chief executives always have to "relearn" that business is always about people, people, people, isn't it?

Peter E. Greulich

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