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Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national
off-price Off-price is a trading format based on Discounts and allowances, discount pricing. Off-price retailers are independent of manufacturers and buy large volumes of branded goods directly from them. The off-price retail model relies on the purchase of ...
department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,100 stores in 47 states and
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
, with its corporate headquarters located in
Burlington Township, New Jersey Burlington Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia and is part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U ...
. In 2007, it was acquired by
Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...
in a transaction and in 2008, Tom Kingsbury became president and CEO. The company went public again in 2013. Burlington is the third largest off-price retailer after
TJX Companies The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American multinational off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre Corp. in 1987, and became the legal successor t ...
and
Ross Stores Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of July 2024, Ross operates 1, ...
.


History

Monroe Gary Milstein and his father, Abe, had been running a successful wholesale and retail outerwear business together since 1946. In 1972, Henrietta Milstein (born Haas) convinced her husband Monroe to purchase a former factory outlet in
Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a City (New Jersey), city situated on the banks of the Delaware River in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the c ...
, 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 in wholesale, but in order to become less dependent on the seasonal coat business, they gradually began adding clothing items and accessories, eventually expanding into linens, gift items, a baby department and shoes. A second location was opened in 1975 in
Copiague Copiague ( ) is a hamlet on Long Island (and census-designated place) in the Town of Babylon, in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 23,429 at the time of the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Censu ...
on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
, 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 In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...
. 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 Bain Capital, LP is an American private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life scien ...
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. Monroe Gary Milstein died on May 9, 2025, in
Bal Harbour, Florida Bal Harbour is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The village is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The population was 3,093 at the 2020 US Census. History Since the 1920s, the Detroit-based Miami Beach Heights Corpo ...
. In July 2012, the company received a $40 million incentive from the
New Jersey Economic Development Authority The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) is an independent government entity in the U.S. state of New Jersey dedicated to broadening and expanding the state's economic base. The EDA creates public-private partnerships to provide acce ...
as part of the state's GrowNJ program in order to build a new headquarters in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. 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, and MJM Designer Shoes. In 2016, Burlington Stores joined the
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
for the first time.
Tom Kingsbury Thomas A. Kingsbury (born 1952) is an American businessman and executive. He was Chief Executive Officer of Kohl's from 2022-2025. He served on the Board of Directors of Kohl's since 2021. Tom was Chief Executive Officer and President of Burlin ...
served as the CEO from 2008 to 2018. Following the bankruptcy and closure of all
Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond was an American big-box retail chain specializing in housewares, furniture, and specialty items. Headquartered in Union, New Jersey, the chain operated stores in the United States and Canada, and was once counted among the ...
stores in the United States, Burlington purchased the leases for more than 40 closed locations in June 2023. The following year, Burlington acquired the leases of 15 locations of the Texas-based retailer
Conn's Conn's, Inc. was an American furniture, mattress, electronics and appliance store chain headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, United States. The chain had stores in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Florida, ...
after their bankruptcy and store closings.


Charitable partnerships

Burlington has partnered with charitable organizations for several years. Since 2002, they have partnered with the joining the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night campaign, collecting donations at the store checkout. With an annual fundraiser that runs from July through October, the company raised more than $3 million in 2013, bringing the total raised by the company to date to more than $19 million. In 2006, Burlington launched the Warm Coats and Warm Hearts Drive to collect coat donations for those in need. Partnering with ABC's ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
'' and the national nonprofit Fashion Delivers, Burlington stores served as drop off spots for the donations, which were then distributed within the area by local charities. Since the program's inception, over 1.2 million coats have been collected and distributed. In 2012, the company first partnered with WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease to promote women's heart health education during National Heart Health Month As part of this partnership, the company holds a yearly Red Dress Event, where red dresses are sold in stores, with $1 from every sale donated to WomenHeart. In 2014, as part of the partnership they launched the “Heart of Style Tour”. For the tour, a bus traveled to various store locations, with heart health professionals on board providing blood pressure tests and Body Mass Index (BMI) tests and education about women's heart disease.


Business issues

Under investigation from animal welfare organization
Humane Society of the United States Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International (HSI), is a global nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scop ...
, Burlington Coat Factory has been accused of labeling real fur products as "faux fur". The company agreed to pull the false advertisements after an undercover investigation revealed "faux fur" as actually made from the pelts of animals killed in China. Coats sold by stores such as Burlington Coat Factory have also been found to contain hair of
raccoon dog ''Nyctereutes'' (Greek: ''nyx, nykt-'' "night" + ''ereutēs'' "wanderer") is a genus of canid which includes only two extant species, both known as raccoon dogs: the common raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes procyonoides'') and the Japanese raccoon do ...
. From 1981 until 2009, Burlington Coat Factory's logo was supplemented with the tag "Not Affiliated with
Burlington Industries Burlington Industries, formerly Burlington Mills, is a diversified American fabric maker based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded by J. Spencer Love in Burlington, North Carolina in 1923, the company is a subsidiary of Elevate Textiles and ha ...
." When Burlington Coat Factory settled a trademark dispute with fabric maker Burlington Industries in 1981, Burlington Coat Factory agreed to say in advertising that the two companies were not affiliated. Even though Burlington Industries ceased operations in 2004 following a buyout of its remaining operations, the "not affiliated" disclaimer remained on advertising logo and company media until 2009, when the text was retired from all logos used by the company. An urban legend concerning snakes hiding in coats being sold at Burlington became widely circulated in the early 1990s. A representative from the company assured customers that since distribution centers and stores were maintained at 68 °F, a snake would not be able to survive retail conditions. In the
September 11, 2001, attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Hijackers in the September 11 attacks#Hijackers, Nineteen terrorists hijacked four com ...
, after hijacked
United Airlines Flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 was a domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport in California that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as ...
penetrated through the South Tower of The World Trade Center, part of the plane's
landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...
and
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
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 West Broadway is a north-south street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, separated into two parts by Tribeca Park. The northern part begins at Tribeca Park, near the intersection of Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), Walker Street ...
and Church Street, () north of the former World Trade Center. The store had been the company's first location in Manhattan, opened in 1991. Three floor beams of the top floor of the building were destroyed, causing major structural damage. 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 protest and was widely rejected.


See also

*
TJX Companies The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American multinational off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre Corp. in 1987, and became the legal successor t ...
*
Ross Stores Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of July 2024, Ross operates 1, ...
* List of department stores of the United States


References


External links

* {{Authority control Department stores of the United States Discount stores of the United States Companies based in Burlington County, New Jersey American companies established in 1972 Retail companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in New Jersey Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Burlington Township, New Jersey 1980s initial public offerings 2006 mergers and acquisitions 2013 initial public offerings Bain Capital companies Companies in the S&P 400