Where it all began

Boscov was born in 1929, the youngest son of Solomon and Ethel Boscov. Boscov’s Department store originally started as a mobile business in 1914, with Solomon taking merchandise to the end of the trolley line and walking from farm to farm — selling to farmers and sleeping in their barns. He opened his first brick and mortar store in 1918 — at Ninth and Pike streets in Reading.

In an interview with Digital First Media in 2014 to commemorate the company’s 100th anniversary, Boscov said he wanted to work in the store by the time he was 6 years old, adding that he learned much by watching his father work.

“He was a very remarkable person — in the sense that he was concerned for others … He would try his best to help when he could,” Albert said during that interview.

Boscov is a graduate of Reading High School and graduated from Drexel University with a business degree. He officially joined the company in 1954, after serving in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

The original store at Ninth and Pike streets was renovated and enlarged, and the company began to expand.

In 1962 Boscov’s West opened in Sinking Spring, followed in 1965 by Boscov’s North. The original Reading store was lost in a fire in 1966, but in November 1967, Boscov’s East opened in Exeter. On that same day of celebrating a new store, came word the Boscov’s West store had caught fire. Within one year, however, a new Boscov’s was opened on the same site.

Boscov became co-president of the company, along with his brother-in-law Edwin Lakin in 1969, following the death of Solomon Boscov. The pair began adding auditoriums to stores, festivals and created the still-used “Did You Boscov Today?”

Boscov began bringing Hollywood legends to play the store auditoriums and appear at store openings. Dorothy Lamour, Henny Youngman, Rita Moreno, Mickey Rooney, Cyd Charisse, Morey Amsterdam, Sophia Loren — all made appearances.

“They were just as talented, but Hollywood didn’t want them anymore,” he said in 2014. “As word got around, we started to pick up quite a number of people.”

The Boscov’s chain continued its expansion in Pennsylvania before expanding to New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. By 2005 the chain had 39 stores doing more than $1 billion in sales.