Boston Store

Infobox Company
company_name = The Boston Store, Inc.
company_
company_type = Department store
foundation = 1897
location = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
industry = Retail
products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, housewares
homepage = http://www.bostonstore.com/

Boston Store is a major, mid-line department store based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, established in 1897 when Julian Simon opened his first store there.

History

1920s and 1930s

During these years the Boston Store was run by Philip Irving Stone. His nephew, Irving Stone, worked as a manager and in 1927-8 dated Broadway ingenue and later MGM movie star Jeanette MacDonald. [""]

In December 1933, 600 of the store's 1000 employees walked out in a famous White Collar union strike. [http://newdeal.feri.org/texts/24.htm]

Federated and Maus Freres S.A.

Julian Simon's control of Boston Store was sold to Federated Department Stores in 1948 and under Federated, branch stores were opened in several Wisconsin cities including Oshkosh, Sheboygan and Manitowoc. Ownership later passed to the Bergner's chain of Peoria, Illinois in 1985 (itself owned by Switzerland-based Maus Frères S.A., a retail conglomerate controlled by the Maus and Nordmann Families); soon afterward Bergner's relocated its headquarters to Milwaukee.

Acquisitions

As cross-town rival Gimbels was being dismantled in 1986, Boston Store acquired three Gimbel's branches at Southgate Mall, Milwaukee, East Towne Mall, Madison and Mayfair Mall, Wauwatosa.

In 1989, P.A. Bergner bought Chicago's Carson Pirie Scott for over $450 million. Carson's itself had just bought Minneapolis-based Donaldson's in November 1987. With this, Bergner's was a major Midwestern presence, with stores in five states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa, operating under the Bergner's, Carson Pirie Scott and Boston Store names.

Bankruptcy and Merge with Proffitt's

In 1991, Bergner's had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with Maus Freres S.A. losing control of the company in a bitter fight. In 1993, the organization emerged from bankruptcy court under the name Carson Pirie Scott & Co, trading under the symbol CPS. Eventually, Proffitt's Inc., now Saks Incorporated, bought Carson Pirie Scott in 1998 and its purchase increased the northern presence of the Saks Incorporated company.

ale to The Bon-Ton

In July 2005, Saks completed the sale of its Southern Department Store Group consisting of Proffitt's and McRae's to Charlotte, NC based Belk, Inc.. On October 31, 2005, Saks announced that it was selling Boston Store and its other Northern Department Store Group stores (Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner's, Younkers, and Herberger's) to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal; the transaction was completed on March 6, 2006. [http://www.bonton.com/investor_relations/pr030606.asp] Currently, the Boston Store segment operates with 13 locations exclusively in Wisconsin. By the fall of 2009, Boston Store will open its 14th location in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. This location will replace a Herberger's currently operating within the same mall at a different anchor pad.

Footnotes

Other stores named Boston Store

Several other unrelated stores called Boston Store (with all the various entities inspired by Boston being a center of fashion and commerce in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) also existed. Unrelated stores called Boston Store or The Boston Store have their locations shown below. The original Von Maur store in Davenport, Iowa was also called "the Boston Store". There was also a store called "Fowler, Dick & Walker, The Boston Store" in downtown Wilkes-Barre, PA and Binghamton, New York, Oakdale Mall-Johnson City, New York and Latham Circle Mall-Latham, New York. Additionally there was a three unit Boston Store with locations in downtown, at the West Erie Plaza, and at the Millcreek Mall in Erie, Pennsylvania. The stores were owned by Associated Dry Goods and eventually merged with Horne's of Pittsburgh. see www.members.aol.com/bostonstore

Unrelated Boston Store locations

hidden begin
title = Unrelated Boston Store locations
titlestyle = background:#CCCCFF; text-align:left;
bodystyle = text-align:left;
*Phoenix, Arizona - Became Diamond's upon its 50th anniversary in 1947
*Chicago, Illinois - State Street (closed 1948)
*Crest Hill, Illinois - Hillcrest Shopping Center (opened 1959, closed 1977, branch of the Joliet store)
*Joliet, Illinois - Jefferson and Ottawa Streets (closed 1972, had branch in Crest Hill, Illinois)
*Albany, New York
*Utica, New York - operated at least 40 years
*Erie, Pennsylvania

Locations

Current locations

hidden begin
title = Current Boston Store locations
titlestyle = background:#CCCCFF; text-align:left;
bodystyle = text-align:left; [http://news.bonton.com/apps/storelocator/default_popup.asp?d=130 Store Locator]

Wisconsin

*Beaver Dam - Heritage Village Shops, 71,500 sq. ft., opens new fall 2009, former Wal-Mart, replaces Herberger's at same mall
*Brookfield:*Brookfield Square:*West Bluemound Road (furniture gallery)
*Glendale - Bayshore Town Center
*Greendale - Southridge Mall
*Janesville - Janesville Mall - formerly Charles V. Weise
*Kohler - converted 2008 from Elder-Beerman
*Madison:*East Towne Mall - opened 2003 in former Younkers (previously Prange's):*West Towne Mall - opened 2003 in former Younkers (previously Prange's)
*Milwaukee - Shops of Grand Avenue
*Racine - Regency Mall
*Sheboygan - Harbor Centre - converted 2008 from Younkers, and former flagship store of Prange's
*Wauwatosa - Mayfair Mall - formerly Gimbel's
*West Bend - converted 2008 from Elder-Beerman

Former locations

hidden begin
title = Former Boston Store locations
titlestyle = background:#CCCCFF; text-align:left;
bodystyle = text-align:left;

Wisconsin

*Eau Claire - London Square Mall - torn down
*Green Bay - Port Plaza Mall - opened 1981, closed 2000, remodeled in 2004 to what is now known as the Bay Lake Bank City Center building, featuring Bay Lake Bank, APAC Customer Services and Vicenzi's.
*Madison - East Towne Mall - former Gimbel's; torn down for Dick's Sporting Goods
*Milwaukee:*Capitol Court Mall (now Midtown Center) - Opened in 1981 at the locations vacated by T A Chapman Co., and the Grand, as well as taking some mall space during renovation of the spaces. closed 1987, mall torn down:*Loomis Centre - torn down:*Northridge Mall (Milwaukee) Closed early 2000s, now partially Value City Furniture:*Southgate Mall - formerly Gimbels; torn down for Wal-Mart Supercenter