The Boston Store Inc. is an online retailer and former

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain owned by

The Bon-Ton Bon-Ton Holdings Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded in 1898. After rapid expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s, the original company had financial troubles, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2018 ...

stores. It was founded in 1897 in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

History

1920s and 1930s

Throughout the 1920s, and 1930s the Boston Store was run by Philip Irving Stone. His nephew, Irving Stone, worked as a manager and, beginning in 1927, dated Broadway ingenue and later MGM movie star

Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and Actor, actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', ''Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow (1934 ...

for a time. In December 1933, 600 of the store's 1000 employees walked out in a famous White Collar union strike.

Federated and Maus Freres S.A.

Julian Simon's control of Boston Store was sold to

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

in 1948 and under Federated, branch stores were opened in several

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

cities including Oshkosh, Sheboygan and Manitowoc. Ownership later passed to the

Bergner's P.A. Bergner & Co. (also known as Bergner's) was an upscale Midwestern department store established in 1889. The chain is now an online retailer operated by BrandX.com, Inc. The flagship store was located in Peoria, Illinois at The Shoppes at Gr ...

chain of

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

in 1985 (itself owned by

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

-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 Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the compa ...

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 Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (also known as Carson's) is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. Sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still ope ...

for over $450 million. Carson's itself had just bought Minneapolis-based

Donaldson's Donaldson's, previously known as The L. S. Donaldson Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a defunct department store company. History Scottish immigrant William Donaldson opened a small store in Minneapolis in 1881, located at 310 Nicollet Avenue. ...

in November 1987. With this, Bergner's was a major Midwestern presence, with stores in five states: Wisconsin,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, operating under the Bergner's, Carson Pirie Scott and Boston Store names.

Bankruptcy and merger with Proffitt's

In 1991, Bergner's filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

, 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.

Sale to The Bon-Ton

In July 2005, Saks completed the sale of its Southern Department Store Group consisting of

Proffitt's Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. On March 8, 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk stores. Belk acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc. History Beginnings Jeweler Dav ...

and

McRae's McRae's was a mid-range regional department store chain founded and based in Jackson, Mississippi, with locations in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida. The nameplate was in existence for more than a century. History Samuel P. McRae fo ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

-based

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, ...

, Inc. On October 31, 2005, Saks announced that it was selling Boston Store and its other Northern Department Store Group stores (Carson Pirie Scott,

Younkers Younkers Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa ...

, and

Herberger's G. R. Herberger Inc. is a department store chain founded in 1927 with locations throughout the Midwestern United States. The chain was sold in the late 1990s amid growing consolidation in the department store industry, while continuing to operate ...

) to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal. The transaction was completed on March 6, 2006. Younkers stores in the Milwaukee area were rebranded Boston Stores, simplifying the company's ads to feature one Bon-Ton banner per market. On April 17, 2018, two liquidators, Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group, won an auction for the company, with a bid estimated at $775.5 million. Stores were closed within 10 to 12 weeks.

Resurrection

On September 14, 2018 it was announced that Bostonstore.com had a homepage stating “We’re Back!”. An agreement had been signed the previous week by CSC Generation Holdings to use the rights to Bon-Ton and its subsidiaries. On October 1, 2018 The Boston Store was operative online.

References

{{Bon-Ton Stores Defunct department stores based in Wisconsin Retail companies established in 1897 Retail companies disestablished in 2018 Companies based in Milwaukee 1897 establishments in Wisconsin 2018 disestablishments in Wisconsin Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018