Short-Haired Merchant

After Los Angeles' huge Bullock's Inc. department store took over I. Magnin & Co. six years ago, oldtime customers complained that the elegance of the Magnin stores had become tarnished. In the seven-store chain, which for years had been the leader of the West Coast fashion trade, service slipped and customers got the feeling that nobody cared whether they bought anything or not.

Last week, as Grover Magnin, the last of the Magnin family, stepped out at the mandatory retirement age of 65, a new man stepped in to shine things up. Into the $45,000-plus presidency of the 74-year-old company went swarthy, handsome Hector Escobosa, art connoisseur, amateur painter, and, at 43, one of the top U.S. retailers.

Arizona-born Hector Escobosa drew his first bead on the business world as a schoolboy window dresser (at no pay) for San Francisco's cavernous Emporium. While attending the University of California nights, he moved on to sales promotion and dress buying at Hale Brothers, and after a stint as vice president and manager of Kansas City's big-volume Jones department store, became boss of

Seattle's Frederick & Nelson, a Marshall Field branch. By adding such tony items as Jensen silver, dresses by Irene, and fashions which he spotted on trips to Paris, London and New York, Escobosa boosted his carriage trade. During the war, F. & N.'s sales were 20% to 60% above its competitors--including the Seattle branch of Magnin's. In his spare time he was vice president of Seattle's art museum, helped warm up support for the local symphony, and wrote a guide book on Seattle that sold 9,000 copies.

At Magnin's, which last year accounted for 30% of Bullock's $106 million gross, President Escobosa will be strictly his own boss, running the chain from his San Francisco headquarters as a separate entity from the parent company. He plans to go slow with changes at first, stick closely to Magnin's long tradition of elegant good taste and high fashion. "However," says he, "don't get the idea that I'm some kind of long-haired merchant. I'm not just interested in chiffons and brocades. I'm here to build up a strong sales policy."

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