Peter L. Harris

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Peter L. Harris is a prominent retailer with an illustrious career, who now serves as a consultant to retailers around the country.

1 Biographical Information
2 Career
3 Trivia
4 References

[edit] Biographical Information

Harris was an early baby boomer born on December 17, 1943 in Stockton, California into a middle class Jewish family. He is married with three children.

[edit] Career

Peter Harris began his career in the Central Valley of California stalking shelves at Gemco. He became the Chief Executive Officer of the company 13 years later. Under his leadership, Gemco achieved $2.2 billion in sales - the peak for the company.

In 1985 Harris became an investor partner at a troubled FAO Schwartz. There, he turned around the company to become a leading and world-renowned toy leader with an emphasis on the customer's experience in the store and exclusive, quality toys. Notable features were the characters around the store, a singing clock, and a friendly teddy bear outside stores. It is often said that his time at FAO was the peak of the company, and toy industry.

His time at FAO left a lasting mark on the retail industry, as he invented the concept of "entertainment retail." Entertainment retail is the philosophy that the costumer should have an experience while in the store, a personal interaction between consumer and retailer. The effects of his time at FAO can be seen most directly at Toys R Us in New York where a ferris wheel is available for the costumers' amusement.

Harris' career continued at video-game company Accolade and then Picture People until it was sold to Hallmark Cards. Harris employed the entertainment retail philosophy here too, where photographers would where fun, spin hats and children could play with a giant camera.

In July 2000, new owner-representative of the San Francisco 49ers, John York, hired Peter Harris to replace Carmen Policy as CEO. Harris stayed for a four years but did not renew his contract. In his short time with team, he jumpstarted the process of building a new stadium, an effort never completed.

In 2004 Harris was named the CEO of leading boat-supplier West Marine in Watsonville, California, and remained there until he resigned in December 2007. Currently, Harris serves on multiple boards around the Silicon Valley and is a respected consultant for retailers. ^[1]

[edit] Trivia

In the Tom Hanks film Big the toy-company owner MacMillan, played by Robert Loggia, is based on Harris. The character is portrayed as fun, eccentric, and youthful - words often descriptive of Harris. ^[2]

Attended Whittier College, where he played center on the football team, and was a catcher for the baseball team. He went on to play AAA baseball. In high school, he lettered 6 times (for basketball, football, and baseball).