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Stand up if you or someone you know has been affected by cancer.
Not standing? Ask yourself these questions.
Have you ever looked through a Boscov’s circular in the newspaper? Have you ever shopped at Boscov’s Department Store in downtown Wilkes-Barre? Have you ever been to a show at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre?
If you answered yes to any of those three questions, you have been affected by cancer.
Al Boscov, chairman and founder of the department store chain that bears his name, announced last week he has late-stage pancreatic cancer. The news affected many more people that just those who know him personally.
Locally, Boscov’s Department Store has locations in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Hazleton. The largest family-owned department store chain in the nation, Boscov’s has 50 stores throughout the eastern United States, with corporate headquarters in Reading, the city Al Boscov has always considered home.
The store in Wilkes-Barre has been in business for 37 years after Boscov purchased the former “Fowler, Dick & Walker — The Boston Store” on South Main Street in 1980. At the time, the city, along with most of the Wyoming Valley, was still struggling to rebound from the devastating 1972 Agnes Flood that wiped out most city businesses.
Boscov was highly visible in promoting his new location whose name he changed to “Boscov’s” and created an “Albie Award” promotion to try to drive business to the downtown area. Just last year, the Wilkes-Barre store underwent a $2.5 million overhaul.
Boscov was instrumental in turning the old Paramount Theater on Public Square into the Kirby Center, a thriving entertainment venue. Not only did Boscov throw his own money into the project, he lent passion and belief to it, along the way making it difficult for anyone to say “no” to him.
On the same day Boscov’s employees were notified of their boss’s cancer diagnosis, they were thanked by the man at the top for the work they did to provide the store with a fantastic 2016.
That’s the kind of guy Al Boscov is.
Not only is he an icon in the department store business, he is a compassionate, caring human being who has always considered his employees “family.”
While Al’s nephew, Jim Boscov, vows the Boscov’s department stores “will continue long into the future,” it was a sad day for all of us to learn a man with Al Boscov’s energy and passion for his employees, his business and this city is now dealing with serious health issues.
During this most difficult time for Al and his family — both his personal family and his professional family — we want him to know how grateful we are for all he has done for Wilkes-Barre, and for every one of us who shop at Boscov’s and who frequent the Kirby Center.
His generosity and belief in our city will live on for a very long time.