After growing up and working in the family’s general store in Oakes, ND, and graduating with a degree in Commerce from UND, Jim Seifert borrowed $15,000 in 1954 to buy a women’s apparel store in Washington, Iowa -- the start of Seiferts Women’s Apparel Chain. Active and spectator women’s sportswear was a relatively new fashion phenomenon in the 1950s, and it became Seifert’s competitive edge. Seifert recognized the managerial strength of women and built his company on that strength. That, plus being one of the first to use computers for multiple store management in the early 1960s enabled Seiferts to grow to an organization of 237 stores in 31 states employing 2,500 people.