History

The Boston Store is mentioned in Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" (Chapter VII) published in 1900 and Carl Sandburg's Mamie, part of his 1916 Chicago Poems collection.
The Boston Store in Milwaukee is NOT related to the Boston Store that was in Chicago and mentioned in these poems.

1920s and 1930s

During these years the Boston Store was run by Philip Irving Stone. His nephew, Irving Stone, worked as a manager and in 1927-8 dated Broadway ingenue and later MGM movie star Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...

.

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

Federated Department Stores

Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....

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

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 cities including Oshkosh

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...

, Sheboygan

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...

 and Manitowoc

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...

. Ownership later passed to the Bergner's

Bergner's

Bergner's is a major department store in central and northern Illinois, established in 1889 in Peoria, Illinois, and offering mid-line to higher end merchandise in their largest stores. The current flagship store is located in Peoria at The Shoppes at Grande Prairie.-Beginnings:Bergner's was...

 chain of Peoria, Illinois

Peoria, Illinois

Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...

 in 1985 (itself owned by Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

-based Maus Frères S.A.

Maus Frères

Maus Frères SA is a Swiss holding company that owns department stores and other loosely related businesses, mostly in Switzerland, but with some major international interests....

, 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 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

Carson Pirie Scott & Co., known informally as Carson's, is an upscale chain of department stores that have been in business for over 150 years. Their product price points are targeted to the moderate-to-upscale shopper...

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

Donaldson's

Donaldson's, also known as The L. S. Donaldson Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a defunct department store company.-History:The L. S. Donaldson Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota, was founded in 1883 by Scottish Immigrants. Built in 1884, the building was known as "The Glass Block" because of its...

 in November 1987. With this, Bergner's was a major Midwestern presence, with stores in five states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa, operating under the Bergner's, Carson Pirie Scott and Boston Store names.

Bankruptcy and Merge with Proffitt's

In 1991, Bergner's had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, 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

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 Incorporated.-Beginnings:...

 and McRae's

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:...

 to Charlotte, NC based Belk

Belk

Belk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via the chain in the USA, with its stores primarily located in the...

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

Bergner's

Bergner's is a major department store in central and northern Illinois, established in 1889 in Peoria, Illinois, and offering mid-line to higher end merchandise in their largest stores. The current flagship store is located in Peoria at The Shoppes at Grande Prairie.-Beginnings:Bergner's was...

, Younkers

Younkers

Younkers is an American department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer has since evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and surrounding states in the Midwest region of the United States...

, and Herberger's

Herberger's

Herberger's is a regional department store chain founded in 1927 in Osakis, Minnesota, United States. Herberger's operates 41 stores in nine states; more than one third of them are in Minnesota, where the chain maintained its headquarters for much of its history...

) to Bon-Ton Stores in a $1.1 billion deal; the transaction was completed on March 6, 2006. http://www.bonton.com/investor_relations/pr030606.asp Currently, the Boston Store segment operates with 13 locations exclusively in Wisconsin. By the fall of 2009, Boston Store will open its 14th location in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Beaver Dam is a city in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States, along Beaver Dam Lake and the Beaver Dam River. The population was 16,243 at the 2010 census, making it the second largest city in Dodge County, and the largest city fully located within the county. It is the principal city of the...

. This location will replace a Herberger's currently operating within the same mall at a different anchor pad.