Burlington Coat Factory - History

History

The company was founded in 1924 as "Burlington Coat Factory", a manufacturer of ladies' coats and outerwear. The modern company was formed and incorporated in 1972 when Monroe Milstein and his wife, Henrietta Milstein, purchased a garment factory and warehouse in Burlington, New Jersey, and started selling coats and outerwear. Monroe along with his father, Abe Milstein, had already been wholesalers of ladies coats and suits in New York City for many years and had a feel for retail from working with department store's buyers from his wholesale business plus the small retail business he had been running with his parents and family members from his wholesale loft for years that was operated outside of regular business hours. His talents and experiences in the field of fashion and his deep understanding of the market and what the customers really wanted guided his success. The company started gradually adding other apparel, including sportswear, suits, shoes, and accessories, and though the direct efforts of Henrietta branched out to include baby and children's items. Current fashions in women's and men's, and children's clothing and merchandise including linens, were offered at considerable discount to most of its competitors and nobody sold so many coats with so much depth all year round. MJM Designer Shoes and Cohoes Fashions are separate stores in the Burlington Coat Factory family.

In the September 11, 2001 attacks, after hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 penetrated through the South Tower of The World Trade Center, part of the plane's landing gear and fuselage came out the north side of the tower and crashed through the roof and two of the floors of the Burlington Coat Factory at 45–47 Park Place, between West Broadway and Church Street, (600 feet (180 meters)) north of the former World Trade Center. The plane parts destroyed three floor beams, and severely compromised the building's internal structure. Nearly nine years later, the building was part of a national controversy, as efforts to build a Muslim center and mosque at the site as the "Cordoba House" sparked a national controversy.

In 2007, the company closed three of its Cohoes stores, and converted two Cohoes stores to Burlington Coat Factory stores. As a result, all the fashions in New York Lottery drawings provided by Cohoes Fashions Inc. were taken over by Burlington Coat Factory. As of July 2010, the two remaining Cohoes stores continued to operate under that name.

In 2011, the company reported to open 20 new stores this year and New flagship store in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.