BUZZ
HIGH STYLE WITH A SMILE
For more than a century, NEIMAN MARCUS department stores have been
known for high fashion. Patrick McGowan aims to make the Short Hills branch
synonymous with top-notch customer service as well.
McGowan, the store’s general manager since August, is a 32-year veteran of the
Nordstrom chain, legendary for its customer service. He is raising the bar at Neiman
Marcus by “building a culture where employees feel pride and ha ve fun. If an employee enjoys coming to work, that translates to better service.” To this end, he has introduced twice- or thrice-weekly morning staff rallies, held before the store officially
opens. These rallies, which he calls “a combination business meeting-pep rally,” are
used to introduce new employees and recognize staff achievements and milestones.
McGowan believes that another way to improve the customer’s experience
is to make the whole family feel welcome. Recognizing that “Neiman
NEIMAN
Marcus isn’t generally considered a place where one would want to bring
MARCUS
small children,” he is introducing a number of kid-friendly events for the
1200 Morris Turnpike,
holiday season. Every Saturday during the holiday season, the store is
Short Hills 973-912-0080
hosting Kids Korner, an afternoon featuring cocoa and activities such as
neimanmarcus.com
story time or a shoe-tying seminar. He is also overseeing a 40% increase in
children’s department inventory, including a dedicated Burberry shop., “This
year, the holiday season at Neiman Marcus is a family affair,” McGowan says.
A SUITE DEAL
SUITE 1
44 Main St., Suite 1,
Millburn
[email protected]
According to David Sorkin, coworking is “a big business model in
American cities that hasn’t yet reached
the suburbs.” That is about to change,
though, as evidenced by the positive
response to SUITE 1, a co-working space and
business resource center in town, which opened in October.
Suite 1, an offshoot of Sorkin’s marketing/advertising/web
design firm New Frontier, has all the amenities of a contemporary office: private iMac-equipped, laptop-friendly work areas,
private phone and fax lines, free Wi-Fi, a soundproof conference
room with 100” projector screen, a kitchen area complete with
free coffee, and more. Sorkin adds that clients can also use it as
their business mailing address.
He says that Suite 1 clearly meets a growing need: “One of my
clients, a regional manager for a national company, calls Suite 1 a
‘godsend.’ Her house is being renovated and she needs an appropriate space to conduct business. I also have clients who work in New
York but need to work locally once or twice a week. And there are
so many local, suburban businesspeople who need a more professional space to meet with their clients than a coffee shop.”
14
MILLBURN • SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2016
MINDSET
TUTORING
Like many tutoring
18 Main St, 2nd Floor
centers in and around
973-379-3565
Millburn, MINDSET
mindsettutoring.com
TUTORING offers
both academic assistance and standardized
test prep. Unlike many
others, it employs high
school students as well
as college students and
older adults.
Melissa Vinik, a former
teacher, and her husband,
Josh, a lawyer, were eager
to give high school
students jobs. “The best
tutor for a particular
subject isn’t always the
person with the highest degree; it may be the person who has
just taken – and excelled in – the class,” Melissa says. She adds
that these tutors, called Near Peers, are often more relatable
and serve as role models for their tutees. Naturally, the Viniks
are extremely selective about the high school tutors they hire;
roughly half of their tutors are college students and above.
Another feature of Mindset Tutoring is its Homework Club for
middle-schoolers. Vinik says, “We are right up the street from
Millburn Middle School and extremely familiar with its curriculum, so kids can just walk here after school to do their homework. They come in and write down what they need to do; we
provide snacks and a staff member who circulates around the
room to offer help and make sure that they are prioritizing
properly. The kids know that this is not a place to socialize; they
work better when they see everyone around them working.”
SUITE 1: COURTESY OF ERICA SILVERMAN ; MELISSA VINIK: COURTESY OF JOSH VINIK; NEIMAN MARCUS: ANNE-MARIE CARUSO
MIND OVER
MATTER