Boscov's to Open in Woodbridge Center Next Year

Looks like the old Fortunoff store in isn't going to be vacant anymore.

Boscov's, one of the last of the family-owned department store chains in the country, announced today they'll be moving into Woodbridge Center by August of 2013. 

"Woodbridge Mall in particular represents an exciting opportunity for Boscov’s," said store chairman and CEO Albert Boscov in a statement. "[It]...provides us with excellent locations in great markets.”

The store announced that they'd be moving into a 180,000 sq. ft. space, although the vacant Fortunoff store - the most likely location for Boscov's - is listed as having 150,000 sq. ft. of retail space still for rent.

Neither Boscov's nor Woodbridge Center has announced exactly where they'll put this new addition to the mall retail lineup, if it's not to be at the Fortunoff location.

In business for over a century, Boscov's has 40 stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware, and sells in excess of $1 billion a year. They also have a thriving online presence at boscovs.com.

For those not familiar with Boscov's, the Pennsylvania-based store chain is a full service, middle level retailer, offering merchandise on the order of J.C. Penney or Sears. 

Fortunoff was one of the anchor stores of Woodbridge Center before it closed in 2009 after it went bankrupt. That was a situation Boscov's faced itself in 2008, when the family-owned chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A little over a year later, the chain emerged from bankruptcy - still in family hands - and started to build itself back up.

They grew steadily enough so that in 2011, they the one New Jersey store they had closed when they went through hard times three years earlier.