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Monroe Milstein and his father, Abe, had been running a successful wholesale and retail outerwear business together since 1946.
In 1972, Henrietta Milstein convinced her husband Monroe to purchase a former factory outlet in Burlington, New Jersey, for $675,050, using money she had saved from her job as a librarian for most of the $75,000 down payment.
Initially, the Milsteins sold coats and jackets wholesale, but in order to become less dependent on the seasonal coat business, they gradually began adding additional clothing items and accessories, eventually expanding into linens, gift items, a baby department and shoes.A second location was opened in 1975 in Copiague on Long Island, and Milstein asked his son Lazer, who was living in Israel at the time, to return home and act as the store's legal owner for the new location. Lazer agreed, on the condition that the store be closed Saturdays in observance of the Sabbath. At the time, businesses faced legal action for being open on Sunday, with an exception made for religions observing a different Sabbath. In 1983, with 31 locations, the company, whose name was Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation since it was bought by the family in 1972, went public.In 2006, the company was purchased by Bain Capital Partners for $2.06 billion. The Milstein family held almost 30 million shares of the Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation, making approximately $1.3 billion, and Monroe Milstein was unassociated with the business following the sale, although two of his sons, Stephen and Andrew, stayed on briefly. Mark Nesci, the former executive vice president and chief operating officer, was named to serve as the acting CEO. A holding company called Burlington Coat Factory Holdings Inc., was formed to be the ultimate parent of the chain.In July 2012, the company received a $40 million incentive from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority as part of the state's GrowNJ program in order to build a new headquarters in Florence, adjacent to its existing headquarters, keeping the company from moving its headquarters outside the state.On June 27, 2013, Burlington filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC for an initial public offering. In October 2013, the company's stock rose more than 40% on its first day of trading. The company reported $4.35 billion in sales for the 12-month period ending August 3, 2013. As of October 2013, the company operated 503 stores in 44 states and Puerto Rico under the names Burlington Coat Factory, Cohoes Fashions, Baby Depot, MJM Designer Shoes and Burlington Shoes.In June 2016, it was announced that Burlington Stores had joined the Fortune 500 for the first time.
