Whether she was rearranging a display shelf, negotiating a sale, or making an appearance at a fundraiser or art showing, Barbara Armajani moved with focus. She had an air of authority about her that was apparent even if you were seeing her for the first time. She was elegant. Cultured. Serious.

Let’s be honest, she was a little bit scary.

But that’s the result of being a trailblazer in her field and a master of her craft. Armajani, who started her career at Dayton’s, climbed to the executive ranks of large retail companies at a time when there weren’t many women at her level. She served as president of two Minneapolis-based retailers, J.B. Hudson and Power’s, and went on to build two breakthrough brands of her own: Pinstripes Petites, which was acquired by Sears & Roebuck in the 1980s, and Ampersand Shops, which, nearly 30 years after its launch, continues to be a nationally recognized market leader for tableware and décor, and a major draw at the Galleria in Edina.

Armajani died on September 11 surrounded by family. She was 83. She was buried in a private ceremony at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Over the course of her career, Armajani served on six public boards and spent 17 years as a trustee of Macalester College in St. Paul. She trained and mentored hundreds of merchants. She opened 49 stores. She introduced brands and artists to the mainstream. She influenced more than one generation of retailers and entrepreneurs.

“I first knew Barbara as a customer at Ampersand years before joining the Galleria team, and she quickly became a mentor and friend,” said Jennifer Smith, Galleria’s managing director of leasing. “Her business savvy, impeccable taste, and passion for retail deeply influenced me both personally and professionally. She built a dynamic brand that continues to flourish at Galleria – you can feel her special touch throughout Ampersand with every unique product and exquisite find. I will be forever grateful for the privilege of knowing her and feel thankful that her legacy will live on through Ampersand.”

Early years

Born Barbara Bauer in St. Paul in 1941, Armajani grew up in White Bear Lake. After graduating from White Bear Lake High School in 1959, she attended Macalester College where she double majored in English literature and history, and met the love of her life, the Iranian-born Siah Armajani, a celebrated sculptor and architect who designed many public works around the world and in his adopted hometown, including the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge, which connects the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to Loring Park. He died in 2020. The Armajanis were married 54 years.

“There’s a very cute story about Barbara being so taken with Siah [at Macalester] that she devised a plan to get his class schedule and then she would just happen to be in places that he was. In this day, it might be considered stalking, but it worked,” said Armajani’s niece Paula Bauer, CEO of Ampersand Shops. “They showed us a loving bond that most did not get to see. Two peas in a pod. It was a marvelous love story.”

A steward of her husband’s legacy, Armajani placed many of Siah’s sculptures in museums across the country, from the Guggenheim in New York to the Phoenix Art Museum.

After graduating from Macalester in 1963, Armajani joined Dayton’s where she worked for 17 years climbing the ranks in merchandising. She became president of J.B. Hudson, then a division of Dayton Hudson Corp, in 1978. Two years later, in 1980, she moved across Nicollet Mall to become president and CEO of Power’s department stores.

In 1983, Armajani left corporate work, but took inspiration from the “Working Girl” wardrobe of the 1980s to fill a hole in the market: petite sizing. She launched Pinstripes Petites in the Twin Cities and grew it to a 25-store chain across five metropolitan areas. Four years later, she sold it to Sears & Roebuck.

Retail expert Mich Berthiaume, who produces popup markets at the Dayton’s Project and Four Seasons in Minneapolis among others, started her career working for Pinstripes Petites, and Armajani took Berthiaume under her wings. “I was taken along to VIP political events. I got to go on buying trips and watch Barbara work her magic in showrooms. She taught me the importance of a firm handshake, and never letting a man intimidate me. She was the only mentor I ever had or needed.”

Berthiaume also got the rare, and highly coveted invitation to the Armajanis’ Crocus Hill mansion. Just 22 years old at the time, Berthiaume was eager to share the details with her Pinstripes Petites co-workers. “It was a stately Georgian colonial with grand décor—it even had butler’s quarters,” Berthiaume was gushing to colleagues when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder that she remembers as clearly as if it happened today. It was, of course, Armajani, who whispered, “It’s unattractive to be impressed.”

Her dream store

Retailing was in her blood, and so, eight years after selling Pinstripes Petites, Armajani founded what she called “the store of my dreams,” Ampersand Shops. It started at 50th & France and moved to Galleria in 2004. Ampersand quickly became an industry leader for its striking assortment of tableware, home decor, and gifts. She brought many industry-leading brands to the market, and launched several others. Simon Pearce glassware, Mackenzie Childs ceramics, Juliska dinnerware are among the sought-after collections that have endured at Ampersand for years.

Armajani built out an apothecary department at Ampersand before concept got trendy. She introduced Kiehl’s to the Twin Cities along with other luxe lines like Molton Brown and Malin + Goetz. And when they became pervasive in the marketplace, she just as swiftly eliminated the apothecary to make room for more tableware, the heart of Ampersand’s bridal registry business.

“We don’t look for what’s new at market. We go looking for what’s important to our customers,” Armajani said in a 2015 interview with MplsSt.Paul. “We’ve been able to identify large statements.” That includes the plush velvet pumpkins and glass Christmas trees that shoppers return to Ampersand to collect year after year.

“There wasn’t a store like it anywhere,” said fellow retailer Mary Hughes, co-owner of another long-running Galleria store, H.o.b.o. “Her legacy lives on, but she will be sorely missed.”

For Bauer, Ampersand CEO, it’s a loss both personal and professional.

“Barbara was an engaging and wonderfully doting aunt—she was always so elegant and had wonderful decorum,” Bauer recalled. “She was not only a leader in her own stores; she was a leader in the marketplace—one whose opinions and forecasts were revered by other business leaders and business owners. She was brilliant, brave, and fearless. She loved imparting her vast knowledge to willing students, of which I count myself lucky to be one.”