Boston Stores (California-based department store)

Myers Whittier Boston Stores acquired the Myers Whittier department store in Whittier in 1972. Myers dated back to about 1905 when brothers Lemuel A. and Wilbert S. Myers founded the Myers Dry Goods Company in a 25-foot-wide (8-meter) storefront at 109 S. Greenleaf Ave., with a staff of five. Four years later around 1911, Myers expanded its space to a 50-foot-wide (15-meter) space at 110-2 S. Greenleaf. In 1920, they moved again to new space at 141 N. Greenleaf, and in 1922 expanded there, doubling in size to . Myers rebranded the store "Myers Whittier". Initially, after it acquired Myers Whittier in 1972, Boston Stores kept the existing name and branding. It even opened a new store in the Whittwood Center mall on May 2, 1974, as "Myers Whittwood". However, it changed the names of the two Whittier stores to "Boston Stores" in 1976. The company had had ambitious expansion plans in the early 1920s, but wound up retreating to a single location in Huntington Park by the late 1920s. In 1969, it embarked on expansion plans again, and in this era (1969–1983) expanded across Southern California. Boston Stores converted several Wineman's branches to Boston Stores: • Huntington Park flagship, 6351 Pacific Bl., location opened in 1935 with . Pacific Boulevard was the busiest shopping district in the southeastern Los Angeles suburbs from the 1930s through the 1950s. The store had expanded in 1940, 1957 and 1966 — from a 25-foot storefront in 1924 to one of 150 feet by 1966. • Placentia, 110 E. Yorba Linda Bl., , opened October 19, 1973 • Mission Viejo, Mission Viejo Village Center, opened c. September 1975 • Corona Moore's (Lompoc) Boston Stores bought Moore's Department Store in Lompoc in 1990. ==Historic expansion==

The Boston Stores underwent the following historic expansion across Southern California and Arizona: California stores opened prior to 1986 '''Converted from Wineman's in 1984''' • Huntington Park, location opened 1935, closed 1986 • Mission Viejo, Mission Viejo Village Center, opened c. September 1975 • Placentia, Placentia Town Center, opened 1973 California, opened 1986– As of December 1985, Boston Stores operated 13 locations in California and 6 in Arizona. Store openings thereafter were: • Lancaster, opened c.1986 • Camarillo, Camarillo Village Square, opened November 25, 1988 • Lompoc, 118 W. Ocean, opened November 2, 1990, formerly Moore's Department Store • Oceanside, Mission Marketplace, opened September 12, 1991 Arizona stores • Flagstaff, Cedar Pines Shopping Center (open as of 1985) • Glendale, open as of 1985 • Mesa, open as of 1995 • Prescott, open as of 1995 • Sun City, open as of 1986 The Corona, Garden Grove, Monrovia Wineman's stores were no longer listed in advertisements in 1986. ==Decline and liquidation==

The chain had long promoted moderately-priced national brands such as Hart, Schaffner and Marx, as it promoted them: "quality leadership brands", with a philosophy of operating intimate, smaller stores of 10,000 to 20,000 square feet (though some were larger, like Rossmore), in neighborhood shopping centers and areas that were relatively far from, or otherwise underserved by malls and mainline department stores. The chain closed some stores around this time, such as Orangefair in Fullerton and Crenshaw-Imperial Plaza in Inglewood. In addition, by the mid-1980s, times were tough for the local junior department stores as larger malls had reached most areas of Greater Los Angeles. They had fewer nice markets, areas where they could do well. In 1992, Boston Stores sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Some stores closed. Remaining stores were liquidated in 1996. ==References==