MERIDEN — Linda Hall and Catherine Elliott — self-described "shopping girls" — stood together in a line outside the new Boscov's department store at Westfield Meriden shopping center, minutes ticking down until the doors opened for the first time. 

And what would the longtime friends be shopping for on their day off?

"O.M.G.," Hall, of Southington, said. "Everything."

"Anything," Elliott, of Bristol, said.

Shopper enthusiasm is what Boscov's — the largest and one of the last family-owned department store chains the country — is counting on as it opens its first store in Connecticut, seeking to establish a foothold in New England.

The chain, based in Reading, Penn., aims to make a name for itself in Connecticut in a crowded retail market that has seen store closures in recent years. Boscov's plans to distinguish itself with lower pricing than competitors, and with merchandise selection. For instance, if other stores have six or seven coffee makers, Boscov's says it will have 20 or more.

Boscov's is mainly in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, but a small presence in New York made an expansion into central Connecticut a logical extension, Albert Boscov, the chain's chairman, said Thursday.

Ani Collum, a partner at Retail Concepts, a boutique industry consulting firm in Norwood, Mass., said Boscov's works hard to "authentically" integrate itself with its communities.

"It's a little outside of the store's natural geography. It will be a great test for them as they consider growth in the future," Collum said. "Does it have legs for growth in a market outside the mid-Atlantic?"

Absolutely, said Albert Boscov, 86. He said the strategy that has worked elsewhere will play well in Connecticut, at the company's 44th store in Meriden.

"Because of our volume, we can price a little better, and because we don't have stockholders other than family," Boscov said. "We have enough profitability that every stockholder in the family is happy."

Boscov said there aren't the distractions of a public company: pressure to pay higher dividends or keeping the stock price up with short-term decisions.

The strategy rests heavily on conveying the sense of a small store with a heavy focus on personal service — in a larger store space. Boscov's occupies two levels formerly leased by J.C. Penney, which closed the location in 2014. Boscov's took all the J.C. Penney space, plus another 25,000 square feet, bringing its footprint to nearly 190,000 square feet.

Unlike some competitors, Boscov's doesn't use discount coupons.

"We don't believe in them," Boscov said. "What happens is the average profit in retailing is 3 percent. How can you give 20 percent away? So you raise your prices."

The store offers everything from furniture, mattresses and kitchen gadgets to clothing for men, women and children.