READING, Pa. -- Down the steps of the Boscov's Department Store here, past the display of patio furniture, near the ladies in gift-wrap and squeezed into the basement, you'll find the chain's corporate headquarters.
The modest, quaint central suite seems to befit the 40-store company begun 85 years ago by a Russian immigrant in this blue-collar city folded in the Lebanon Valley of eastern Pennsylvania.
The halls are a little dark, a little dank. The furniture's a bit dated. The buyers who choose the merchandise to be sold in stores sit crammed behind tall cubicles plastered with family photos and photocopied cartoons.
Clothing samples hang on rolling racks in the aisles. The president's office is about the size of a high school principal's, no glammed-up corporate executive's digs.
But Boscov's, which about to move into the Baltimore market, is taking a step beyond its traditional roots. It's a bold leap at an uncertain time for department stores, squeezed by the proliferation of discounters and specialty stores. The family felt the enterprise had reached a critical juncture: grow or wither.
"Everything has its risks and we're working to mitigate those risks as much as possible without straying from the formula that has gotten us to where we are," said Kenneth S. Lakin, the company's chairman and chief executive officer. "We're not reinventing the wheel. We're just tweaking it a little bit."
By the end of June, Boscov's expects to close on a deal to buy 10 stores from Federated Department Stores Inc., the Cincinnati retail giant that is unloading excess property as a result of its recent merger with May Department Stores. As it combines its various regional department stores - including Hecht's in the Mid-Atlantic - into a national Macy's brand, Federated is sell- ing off excess stores to other retailers.
In the Baltimore area, Boscov's will take over Macy's stores at White Marsh and Owings Mills malls in Baltimore County and at Marley Station in Anne Arundel County. The stores are to be open by the November-December holidays.
With its purchase of 10 stores, Boscov's will expand by 25 percent at once, the biggest growth spurt in its history.
Many of the chain's new markets, such as Pittsburgh and Baltimore, are larger than where the retailer has typically prospered. Its stores stretch from upstate New York to southern Virginia.
Its Maryland stores can be found in Westminster, Frederick and Salisbury.
