AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Byline: David Moin
Twenty years ago, Talbots Inc. found the perfect fit, or as good as it gets in fashion retailing.
The company hired Arnold B. Zetcher as president, a man as understated as the brand and from the Midwest, where Talbots often sells best.
Zetcher was running the John Breuner furniture store in San Francisco, where practically no one had heard of Talbots, then just a 108-unit chain. But the fit was snug. Zetcher became Talbots' chief executive officer a year later, and added the chairman's title in 2000.
"I remember the first two stores I opened were in St. Louis, my hometown," Zetcher said, during a wide-ranging ...