3/19/2023 0 Comments Stayfocused flock exact urlBoscov bought the company back, he said, to save it from going out of business and putting 8,000 employees out of work, including many he had hired personally. At the peak of the recession in 2008, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and closed 10 stores, including those in White Marsh Mall, Owings Mills Mall and Marley Station just two years after taking over the spaces from Macy's. Under new ownership, Boscov's launched a 10-store expansion in 2006, including the move into the Baltimore market. Boscov retired in 2005 at age 75, selling what had become a regional department store chain. If he killed enough flies, he said, he earned a dime. Retailing has been in his blood since he got his first "job" at age 6, swatting the flies that got in through the screen door of his father's general store, which sold overalls to railroad workers in Reading. And he has a hand in everything from merchandising to advertising to operations. He said he works "every day, all the time, morning to night." He travels with a buyer to the New York markets every Wednesday to keep up with trends. Since coming out of retirement in December 2008 to buy the chain back at a bankruptcy auction, Boscov has been hands-on in shepherding the company back to profitability. "I'm so glad you've reopened," Joanne Lang of Parkville told Boscov before picking out a scarf for a Christmas gift and heading off to the jewelry counter. Mary Dorsch, decked out in Orioles orange, stopped Boscov to request an autograph for a co-worker who could not make it to the opening. "I've never seen the owner of a store" greet shoppers, she said. She said she was surprised to run into the department store's owner. The idea is to have more styles and have them at a better price." Near the shoe department, shopper Barbara Mullen of Pikesville chatted with Boscov, telling him her mother had grown up, as he had, in Reading, Pa., where the retailer is headquartered. We know there's other competition, but as long as quality is good and the selection is good and the prices are good, people seem to like us. "I don't know what we don't have," Boscov said. But that doesn't mean neglecting youth fashion, Boscov said, noting the skinny jeans for juniors displayed at one of the store's entrances. Boscov's still runs department stores in the traditional sense, offering not just apparel but furniture and even candy. He stressed that Boscov's, the nation's largest privately owned department store chain but a relatively small retailer, has taken a different path from others in its category. "Nice to have you here today," he said over and over. The company chairman and CEO was clearly in his element, joking with store employees and customers, straightening sweaters, inspecting signs above racks, directing lost shoppers and occasionally breaking out into an impromptu tap dance as he glided from department to department. Boscov, the 83-year-old owner of the regional department store chain. Customers were greeted by sales and, in some cases, by Albert R. I used to buy all my curtains and tablecloths" at the department store. When she heard Boscov's was returning to White Marsh, "I was ecstatic," Jones said. Marie Jones of Baltimore waited outside the store with about two dozen people at one of several entrances before the 10 a.m. Customers lined up not only for the many free gifts but to buy - luggage and linens, scarves and purses, shoes and grill pans. The newly remodeled and restocked Boscov's drew hordes of shoppers Friday, all of whom had bought $5 tickets for the preview day. The nearly 200,000-square-foot store opened in the same anchor spot the chain vacated four years ago amid the recession. "We're so glad you're back," customer after customer told store employees and Boscov family members on hand for the retailer's reopening at White Marsh Mall. Hundreds of Baltimore-area shoppers packed into the newly reopened Boscov's on Friday morning, welcoming back the department store as if they were greeting an old friend. Grand opening will be on Sunday October 7. Boscov's returns to Baltimore at its former site in White Marsh Mall with a soft opening preview day of shopping and giveaways. Albert Boscov, center, chairman and CEO of Boscov's, talks with customer Mary Dorsch, left, of White Marsh, during the department store's soft opening.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |