Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with forty-nine locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Twenty-six of these stores are located in Pennsylvania. Corporate headquarters are located in Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, near Reading. The company chairman is Jim Boscov, who took over after his uncle Albert Boscov retired. History Solomon "Sol" Boscov was of Jewish descent. He emigrated from Russia to Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1911. He had $1.37 in cash on arrival in the United States. He worked as a traveling salesman with an initial $8 worth of merchandise. Because he spoke Yiddish, he was able to converse with people in Berks County who spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. Boscov's fortunes changed in 1914 when he opened the first Boscov's store at 9th and Pike streets in Reading. A Pennsylvania Historical Marker commemorating Solomon Boscov stands at the site of the original store. Boscov's began expanding in the Reading suburbs during the 1960s, with the Boscov's West store in Sinking Spring opening in November 1962 and the Boscov's North store at the Reading Fairgrounds in Muhlenberg Township opening in August 1965. The Boscov's East store along 9th Street in Reading was destroyed by fire in February 1967 and was replaced by a new Boscov's East store in Exeter Township in November 1967. The Boscov's West store was destroyed by fire in November 1967 and reopened in November 1968. By 1968, Boscov's had five stores, 2,200 workers, and annual sales exceeding $50 million. Solomon Boscov retired and was succeeded by his son Albert "Albie" Boscov as head of the company in 1960. The first Boscov's location outside of Berks County opened at the Lebanon Valley Mall in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in August 1972. Boscov's bought Fowler, Dick and Walker, the Boston Store in 1980. One of Wilkes-Barre's last remaining downtown department stores, it was also Boscov's first multi-story store. Boscov's opened its first location outside of Pennsylvania at the Dover Mall in Dover, Delaware, in August 1982. Boscov's first entered the Philadelphia market in the late 1980s by opening Ports of the World outlet stores. These stores would later be re-branded as Boscov's sometime in the mid-1990s. In 1983, Boscov's leased the Fowler's department store building and opened the next year in downtown Binghamton, New York. In August 2002, Boscov's opened a store at the Berkshire Mall in Wyomissing, replacing a Strawbridge's store. As a result,