As Boscov's department store chief Kenneth S. Lakin stood last week among the buzz of workers preparing to open three new stores in the Baltimore area, he was reminded of advice an uncle once offered while building the 95-year-old family retail chain.
"You can always get married again," Al Boscov once said. "But you can only open a store once."
Boscov's executives, in the midst of the company's largest expansion in its history, are bringing new stores to the Baltimore area Oct. 28 in Marley Station Mall, Owings Mills Mall and White Marsh Mall with $12 million in renovations. The Reading, Pa.-based department store chain has a store in Westminster but the opening-day weekend around Baltimore will help Boscov's further introduce itself to a market where it's still relatively unknown.
"They have one shot to really connect with area shoppers," said Amanda Nicholson, an assistant professor of retail management at Syracuse University. "It's just so competitive nowadays that people will walk in and have a look, and if they're not happy they won't come back. We're very critical because we have so much choice."
Boscov's expands in the Baltimore market during a difficult time for department stores, which have lost market share to high-end retailers on one end and discounters like Wal-Mart and Target at the other. Boscov's old-time charm in selling everything from appliances to apparel is a throwback to a business model that eventually suffered at several chains, including Hecht's and Marshall Field's. And launching the Baltimore expansion in the holiday season is a challenge because it forces Boscov's to stock up on inventory in a market where it doesn't know its customers' shopping habits as well as it does in other markets.
But the privately held company looks at its Baltimore effort as an opportunity to expand in a market it has long coveted. Described by some retail analysts as a step above J.C. Penney with merchandise and below Macy's in terms of prices, company executives believe they can fill a niche that is underserved in Baltimore.
Although some may call it old-fashioned, Boscov's executives believe their strength is the company's one-stop-shopping philosophy. The design of the stores is no more unique than its competitors. But Boscov's has a quarter more departments than a Macy's or a J.C. Penney.
