Pennsylvania-based Boscov’s plans to open its 50th store, even as its rivals are disappearing

Private label, fleece-lined hoodies were flying out of Boscov’s, and CEO Jim Boscov wanted to know why.

It turned out that the October 2020 surge in demand had little to do with the personal service and unpretentious vibe that have helped make Boscov’s the largest family-owned department store company in America.

It came from young people posting TikTok videos of themselves dancing and modeling inexpensive plaid outerwear from Boscov’s.

“Our hoodies were going viral,” said Boscov, 73, the CEO and public face of the privately held company, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year.

“In one week we had an eightfold increase in sales of the hoodies. We sold $200,000 worth at $24.99 each,” he said. “We had been doing digital marketing for years, but it opened our eyes to the power of influencers.”

One of those influencers vowed in her video to “never be dissing Boscov’s again” — suggesting not only the opportunities, but also the challenges facing the more than century-old company in today’s economy.

While Boscov’s has continued to open stores while other traditional retailers are closing, its image remains a throwback to the days when department stores were dominant, and malls were all the rage.

The decor in some of its older stores is heavy on mirrors, bright lights, and neon signage evocative of a disco or a casino. Some people likely perceive Boscov’s shoppers as the mothers or grandmothers of those fleece-lined hoodie enthusiasts.

“The trick is to evolve but not give up the core of what works and makes us successful,” said Boscov, adding that new stores feature sleeker designs. The company also renovates two stores each year.

“We have to keep learning and changing,” he said. “But we won’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Boscov’s traces its start to Solomon Boscov peddling housewares from farm to farm near Reading in Berks County in 1914. He was 23 and had recently emigrated from Russia with his brother’s passport, hardly any money, and even less English.

Nevertheless, “my grandfather earned a reputation as honest and kind, and for providing good merchandise at a great price,” Boscov said during an interview at company headquarters just outside Reading.

“These continue to be our core values.”

From its first store — Economy Shoe & Dry Goods — in Reading in 1918, Boscov’s has grown to 49 stores in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio.

The company’s bustling headquarters occupies a mostly windowless warren of offices in the basement of its Reading Mall store.

Boscov’s charismatic uncle, Albert, who led and grew the company for nearly 50 years and ultimately saved it, established the tradition of an in-store headquarters.

“Success doesn’t happen because of what goes on in the office,” said Boscov, who generally visits a different store weekly. “It’s what happens on the sales floor that matters.”

Boscov’s is a full-service department store, he said. “And we have something you don’t find everywhere: We have salespeople on the sales floor.”

Boscov’s is often an anchor in shopping malls — another retail institution that once seemed invincible. The busy Voorhees, N.J., Boscov’s is pretty much all that remains of the Echelon Mall, which was built in 1970. The 50th Boscov’s is scheduled to open this fall in a Bridgeport, W.Va., mall.

But the company also has downtown stores in Binghamton, N.Y.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; and Providence, R.I.

Department stores aren’t what they were when Wanamakers, Gimbels, and Strawbridge’s ruled Philadelphia regional retail.

But Boscov’s comes closer than most. It still has candy and toy departments and sells draperies, beds, recliners, and small appliances. It carries clothing for petite as well as big and tall customers, and many of its stores have hair salons and optical shops, along with hearing aid and travel services.

“Boscov’s has figured out how to thrive in the anti-brick-and-mortar retailing world,” said Michael Lisicky, a Cherry Hill native, historian and author of books about department stores, including Bamberger’s.

“Boscov’s isn’t run by a private equity firm. They’re a family of merchants, who know who they are and know their customers,” he said. “Boscov’s isn’t reimagining the department store because maybe it doesn’t need to be reimagined. Not everything is broken.”

Lisicky pointed to the chain’s signature breadth and depth of inventory as a selling point. “Customers know they will probably find whatever they’re looking for at Boscov’s,” he said.

Boscov’s fan Cathy Nevins, an educator and social worker who lives in Cherry Hill, agrees. “When I take my grandchildren there, they usually see something they like.”

Nevins also likes that Boscov’s cultivates relationships with local nonprofits. “I like their ethics of people helping people,” she said.

Until the pandemic, a half-dozen Boscov’s stores still had restaurants called The Greenery, where the “Bos-cobb salad” was once a staple. Tailors are no longer on site, either — although tailoring services are still offered.

“We hate to give up things that make us distinctive,” said Boscov, who paused at one point during the interview to take a call from his mother, Shirley, who’s 97 and lives in a Reading retirement community.

“She’s very active and tries to go swimming every day,” he said.

A widower and the father of a grown daughter, Jim Boscov grew up working in the stores and learning the family business firsthand from his grandfather and uncle. He had part-time jobs in a number of departments as a teenager and joined the company full time at age 26.

But he left in 1990, moved to Boston, and launched a series of retail or retail-related businesses, including a successful outlet store chain. He came back to Boscov’s in 2008 as an assistant to Albert, who had retired only two years earlier but returned to lead an effort to save the company.

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As mergers and closures roiled the department store industry in 2006, Boscov’s — under the leadership of then-CEO Kenneth Lakin — bought 10 store locations that had become available in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The expansion brought the total number of Boscov’s to 49 and introduced the brand to new markets.

“It might have worked, but the economy hit the skids, the credit market crashed, and Boscov’s did not have the liquidity at the time that it needed to survive,” Jim Boscov said.

“Because of the goodwill Boscov’s had earned, Albert was able to cobble together the necessary funds to buy the company back, with the entire family participating,” he said.

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The 10 recently acquired store locations were closed. In the following decade, Albert started the company on a new path of expansion. He was 87 when he died of pancreatic cancer in 2017.

Albert had named Jim Boscov CEO in 2015. Under his leadership, Boscov’s took over the former Nordstrom space in Providence, opened two Connecticut stores, one near Youngstown, Ohio, and soon, in Bridgeport, W.Va.

“Boscov’s came knocking on our door,” said Andy Lang, mayor of the city of 9,000 in north-central West Virginia.

“People are very excited,” he said. “I really like what Mr. Boscov says about tailoring the store to fit the community. It’s going to be great.”

Boscov’s is serving a market that remains robust, said Sheri Lambert, an associate professor of marketing at Temple University who studies consumer behavior.

“Bricks-and-mortar isn’t dead,” she said. “And malls aren’t dead either.”

While the pandemic elevated e-commerce, it also underscored how much people missed communal experiences, such as shopping, Lambert said.

Stores like Boscov’s “are where people can go to be among other people and have a sense of community,” she said. “People like to touch and feel merchandise, and they like to be among other [shoppers], which is hard to do online.”

Boscov said he intends to keep working but noted that the store has recruited new management talent from within and outside the family.

The company is always looking for new opportunities. He said the success of the standalone Boscov’s Outlet, near the Reading Mall store, is an additional format that could work in other locations. He didn’t name any in particular but wouldn’t rule out Philadelphia — or Center City — either.

“The worst thing we could do is pretend to be something we’re not,” he said. “We’re going to continue to be Boscov’s.”