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The story
20th century
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, 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 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.
21st century
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.
Monroe Gary Milstein died on May 9, 2025, in Bal Harbour, Florida.
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, and MJM Designer Shoes.
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In 2014 The company changed its name to Burlington Stores to better reflect the breadth of inventory available.
In 2016, Burlington Stores joined the Fortune 500 for the first time. Tom Kingsbury served as the CEO from 2008 to 2018.
In September 2019, Michael O’Sullivan joined Burlington as Chief Executive Officer. O’Sullivan came to Burlington from Ross Stores, another off-price retailer, where he worked for 16 years, rising to become their President and Chief Operating Officer in 2009.
Following the bankruptcy and closure of all Bed Bath & Beyond 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 after their bankruptcy and store closings.
From Wikipedia’s article on Burlington Stores (off-price retailer), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.9