The Reading, Pa.-based chain's other options include raising equity from investors or being acquired by a strategic, she said.

Miller made the comments during a one-on-one interview at the 14th Annual ICR Xchange Conference, held in Miami from Jan. 10-12.

The determining factor in Boscov's future is what happens when chairman Albert Boscov, the 85-year-old patriarch of the family that owns the retail chain, steps down, Miller explained. Future generations of the family may wish to exit the business, she said.

It "depends on what the family wants to do," Miller said.

In 2011, Boscov's generated $960 million in revenue and $55 million in Ebitda. The company is paying off a 20-year, $43.7 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development that it received while in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The retailer has no other debt except for a line of credit, which it draws on about six weeks out of the year, Miller said.

Boscov's was acquired out of Chapter 11 in December 2008 by an investor group led by Boscov, the son of founder Solomon Boscov, and Ed Lakin, a former Boscov's president whose wife is Alma Lakin, the sister of Albert Boscov.

The Boscov family owns the majority of the company, while one outside investor owns a minority stake. Miller declined to comment further on the ownership structure.

The department store chain filed for Chapter 11 in August 2008 due to a combination of a decline in consumer discretionary spending stemming from a collapse in the housing market, skyrocketing gas and energy prices and climbing food costs.

Miller, previously CFO of Springfield, Mo.-based retailer Bass Pro Shops, said Boscov's was founded in 1911 and is one of the few remaining full-line, family-owned department stores selling everything from washers and dryers to clothes at various price points.

It has 40 stores throughout New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, with plans to expand by one-to-two stores per year, Miller said.

One of its more successful product categories is the sale of mattresses, Miller said, as well as footwear. There are areas in which the department store doesn't have much expertise such as in maternity wear, which it outsources to retail chain Destination Maternity Corp., which runs the maternity department for Boscov's.

As to the challenges facing department stores, such as aging mall-based real estate and e-commerce, Miller said that entities such as Boscov's have to continue to innovate, from developing e-commerce businesses to offering special events, products and services such as prize contests within its stores.

She said that if sporting goods retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's Inc. can get men to shop, department stores should be able to come up with ways to get women into their stores.