Peter L. Harris (born December 17, 1943) is an American
retailer
Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...
and retail consultant.
Career
Harris attended
Whittier College
Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...
, where he played
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
on the
football team, and was a
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
for the
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
team. He went on to play
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
baseball.
He began his career in the
Central Valley of California stocking shelves at
Gemco
The Groote Eylandt Mining Company, known by its acronym GEMCO, is an Australian company that was commissioned to mine high grade manganese ore. GEMCO is majority owned by South32. It runs its operation on 84 square kilometres of the Arnhem Land Ab ...
. He became the
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
of the company 13 years later. Under his leadership, Gemco achieved $2.2 billion in sales, its highest level at the time. He became a member of the
Young Presidents Organization
YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is an American-based worldwide leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries, according to the organization's 2019 YPO international fact sheet. ...
.
In 1985 as CEO Harris and an investor partner acquired world-famous
FAO Schwarz
FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and store. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, interactive experiences, brand integrations, and games.
FAO Schwarz claims to be the oldest toy store in the United States ...
. The company had lost some of its market share to toy
discounter
A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cos ...
s and stores with more modern offerings. Harris brought in exclusive product line agreements and newer toys to supplement traditional sales, and relocated the flagship Manhattan store.
While at the company he invented the concept of "entertainment retail", a strategy that the customer should have an experience while in the store, a personal interaction between consumer and retailer. Harris sold the company to Dutch retail group KKB in 1990 and remained as CEO.
He later moved to
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
company
Accolade and then Picture People until it was sold to
Hallmark Cards
Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...
. Harris employed the entertainment retail strategy there, where photographers would wear spin hats and children could play with a giant camera.
In July 2000,
John York
John C. York (born April 18, 1949) is a retired American cancer research pathologist, married to Marie Denise DeBartolo York, and former co-owner and current co-chairman of the San Francisco 49ers.[San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...]
, hired Harris to replace
Carmen Policy as president and chief executive officer. Harris stayed for four years but did not renew his contract. During his time with the team, he oversaw the building a new stadium.
In 2004 Harris was named the CEO of NASDAQ-listed boating lifestyle company
West Marine in
Watsonville, California
Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self ...
, with more than 400 stores and 4,000 employees. He resigned in December 2007.
Geoff Eisenberg Succeeds Peter Harris As President and Chief Executive Officer of West Marine: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance
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In recent years Harris took on a full-time advisory and operating role as a Senior Managing Partner at crisis management firm Eaglepoint Advisors, before joining private equity firm TPG Growth as a Senior Advisor responsible for Human Capital. He became the Chairman at TPG portfolio company XOJet where he remains on the Board of Directors. In 2014 he became President of GreenTech Environmental in Johnson City Tennessee. He left GreenTech at the end of 2018 to pursue other opportunities.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Peter
Living people
1943 births
People from Stockton, California
20th-century American Jews
American businesspeople in retailing
21st-century American Jews