Business Management

Peterson’s is a women’s apparel store that grew out of a bridal store that Liz Peterson’s mother started in 1949. When Liz worked at Peterson’s while in high school, she was amazed at how hard her mother worked to help would-be brides plan their perfect wedding ensemble. Often the soon-to-be brides and their mothers would make last-minute changes in color themes and fabric, and Liz’s mother had to work with her seamstress and fabric suppliers to meet their client desires. It was difficult for Liz’s mother to charge the real cost for all of these changes, but she felt in the long run that it was good for business. The problem was that the positive word of mouth was too successful. As a result, the community’s soon-to-be brides began to expect this level of service with last-minute demands.

Liz returned home in 1967 after graduating with a degree in merchandising from the University of Kentucky to assist her mom in operating the store. Sadly, her mother died in 1973 of an unexpected severe heart attack, and Liz took over the operation of Peterson’s. The peak season for weddings is between March and September. After her first peak season in running the store on her own, she decided to close down on October 30 and reopen on March 1 of the following year. When she reopened Peterson’s on March 1, 1975, it was at the beginning of the rise of women in professional and managerial roles. She thus designed Peterson’s to appeal to the 22- to 40-year-old career-oriented female. The store was a resounding success. In the prior 10 years, the best annual profit was $17,000, but in Liz’s first year under this new concept the net profit was $67,000 on sales of $844,000. For a 5,000-squarefoot store, this was sensational productivity. In 1977, Liz gave birth to twin daughters, Marcy and Tracy.

Today, Marcy is successfully practicing law, but Tracy returned home in 2007 with the goal of purchasing the store from her mother. Prior to returning, Tracy had worked for a regional...