R. H. Stearn & Company, or Stearn's, as it was commonly called, was an upper-middle market department store based in Boston, Massachusetts.
The flagship store was located on Tremont Street, opposite the famed Boston Common, in the section of Boston called Downtown Crossing. The store was located a couple of blocks away from its primary competitors on Washington Street, those being Filene's and Jordan Marsh.
R. H. Stearn carved out a niche as being a more service-oriented store than its competitors, and it was considered by many to be the "carriage trade" store of the Boston area. By the mid-1970s the changing face of the retail marketplace caught up with the store, and it did not have the financial backing like Filene's or Jordan Marsh, who were both owned by large national retail holding companies. At the time of Stearn's demise Filene's was owned by Federated Department Stores, and Jordan Marsh was owned by Allied Stores.
R. H. Stearn operated through the Christmas shopping season of 1977, and closed down in January 1978 after holding a liquidation sale.