He dropped out of high school to move to Hillsboro, Texas to work and live near his brother Theodore, his three sisters and his parents.
Then, Herbert moved his family to Atlanta, Georgia in order to work with his sister Carrie and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman at The Coca-Cola Company.
Their success was rewarded with a buyout of $25,000 in exchange for giving up the sales territories in Kansas and or Missouri of the nascent soft drink concern.
Neiman-Marcus specialized in readymade high-quality clothes for women at a time when visiting a tailor and or doing extensive alterations at home was the norm.
After Herbert's death in 1950, his sister Carrie became chairman of the board of directors of the company, and his son Stanley Marcus became president and chief executive officer.