Selling tradition: Boscov's thrives online and in stores by sticking to its roots

After I met Jim Boscov for the first time, he wanted me to lie down.

"Try this bed," he said.

We were in the second-floor bedding department next to furniture at the Boscov's at Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem.

Boscov's focus that day was the Dream Weaver - a machine that purports to track the pressure points of a customer's back and recommends mattress firmness. The machine just rolled out in about a third of Boscov's stores.

"It will really help customers know if they are buying the right bed," said Boscov, 65, as I looked up at the ceiling. And it did confirm my preference for a firm mattress.

The gizmo shows Boscov's approach to customers. He literally has your back.

The philosophy was borne from the store's founder nearly a century ago, Solomon Boscov.

Under the Boscov's policy, the store won't be undersold, and will match a price on an identical item. "The truth is, we are the low guy almost all the time," Boscov said.

A 400-thread-count bedsheet with two pillow cases in queen and king sizes will go for $29.99 at Boscov's this week, compared with $40 to $52 at competitors. An Arctic King window air-conditioner with 10,000 BPUs goes for $199, compared with $233 at competitors.

"Have you Boscoved today?" is the promotion line for a culture that has helped sustain the nation's largest family-owned, full-service department store.

Jim Boscov became the third-generation Boscov to grab the CEO reins in May, taking over from his uncle and retail legend, Albert, 85, who remains board chairman.

The chain's focus is Middle America. It has 43 stores in six states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. While slowly growing its store network, it is also increasing eCommerce. It expects to have more than $1.1 billion in total sales this year.

"Everybody is growing with the Internet, but we're growing in both brick-and-mortar and online," Boscov said. "I attribute that mostly to customer service.

"We don't want to grow too many stores too fast," he said. "It takes caring and feeding. It's not a cookie cutter thing."

The chain grows one store a year, on average. On rare years, two stores.

All but seven current stores are in enclosed malls. Boscov's will open its 44th store in the Westfield Meriden Mall in Meriden, Conn., in the fall.

Stepping into a Boscov's is almost like stepping into a time warp. An optical center is in every store. A candy department and fudge counter are in most of them, and a travel agency in some. Certified bra fitters are found in every store. Free gift wrap is always offered. And most have an auditorium for community classes or meetings.

"You want to be contemporary, but continue to provide services that other companies no longer offer," Boscov said. "A lot of department stores got rid of these because they can make bigger margins on clothing."

That afternoon, Boscov, walking with store manager Karl Hess, asked customers, such as Kim Turner, 44 of West Oak Lane, what she liked about Boscov's. "I love your stores," said Turner, a school bus driver, who was shopping for an exercise outfit for her aunt. "I love they have a bunch of customer service representatives always available to help me."

Boscov also makes it a point to visit at least one store a week, where he gives the sales force a pep talk before opening. He spent a recent Friday traveling three hours to Binghamton, N.Y., and another hour to Scranton with two busloads of buyers, mostly from Reading, where the company is based.

Such trips "are your best source of information."

He said the store's relationship with vendors was key. "We're not a giant chain that can dictate what we want," he said. "So when a vendor has a large order promotion, we are the first ones to get the call and we can pass [savings] on to customers. It makes us a little more exciting."

There was another reason that community plays such a huge role for the chain.

Boscov's went bankrupt in 2008, and the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 thanks to Albert's cobbling together family money and bank loans. Among those that helped rescue the chain were towns that had Boscov's stores and didn't want to lose them.

"Even in their darkest days, they had a niche and a tremendous acceptance and loyalty in their markets. People enjoy going there," said Howard Davidowitz, a retail and investment banking consultant in New York.

"Good will comes back to you," Boscov observes.

And now he tries to send it back. "Shopping has to be fun," Boscov said. "It's not that you need anything. Shopping is entertainment and should be fun, and we have to remember that.

"If a customer says 'can you help me do this,' we want to say 'yes.'

"I may come across as a little bit sappy. But I am," Boscov said. "It's much nicer to live like that."