Friday Off-Topic: Penney's, Nordstrom's and Getting Rich

Filed in archive General on August 25, 2006

My mom always calls JCPenney "Penneys". Or maybe "Penney's"? Not sure, but she always adds that "s" at the end. I used to think Penney's was really the name of the store, now I know it's a cute little nickname.

I've noticed that a LOT of people do this with Nordstrom, too. I'm guessing I hear "Nordstrom's" 75% of the time when the name is mentioned. I'm not sure why, though. Nordstrom's isn't a cute nickname--it's harder to say than just saying "Nordstrom." Maybe it's because so many other department stores have the "s", like "Macy's" "Kohl's"... actually that's all I can think of, except of course "Penney's".

Checking it out on Google I find that there is a Nordstrom's Automotive that seems to have no link to Nordstrom the departmernt store.

If I were starting a business unrelated to what Nordstrom does, I would call it Nordstrom's just to grab all the search engine magic from people who do searches for "Nordstrom's". If I were an attorney, for example, I'd change my last name to Nordstrom so that I could call the firm "Nordstrom's Law Offices." Well, maybe I wouldn't change my name, but I might create a fictitious partner named Nordstrom (and maybe some other fictitious partners, too), so I could name my firm "McHenry, Penney, Kohl, Macy and Nordstrom".

If there were ever a class action lawsuit against one of those companies, I'd totally rake it in, man. I'd come up in every search.

My mind's like a steel trap.