Counter Success

"The only way to learn the retailing business is over the counter," Philip M. Hawley is fond of saying. Hawley, 48, first practiced what he now preaches while dishing up sundaes behind the counter of his Portland, Ore., ice-cream store. Now, as president of Broadway-Hale Stores, Inc., he directs a retailing empire that includes Neiman-Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Holt, Renfrew, Capwell's, The Emporium, Weinstock's and the Walden Book Co.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California and Harvard Business School, Hawley sold his four ice-cream shops in 1952 and went to work for a Portland department store. He joined Broadway-Hale six years later as a buyer, was adopted as protege by Board Chairman Edward Carter, and was named president in 1972.

Included in his retailing domain are more than 400 department and specialty stores, gift and book shops. Their profitability is due largely to Hawley's willingness to let his company's acquisitions maintain their separate personalities. "The best way for Neiman-Marcus to survive," he says, "is to let Stanley Marcus run it." Hawley is now negotiating to buy 20% of Britain's House of Fraser Ltd., owner of the prestigious Harrods of London and 90 other United Kingdom stores. The purchase will be a cornerstone of Hawley's plans to boost company profits ($39.8 million in 1973) by 50% over the next five years.

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