Bon-Ton stores closing
The Bon-Ton department store chain — which has locations at Westmoreland Mall, Indiana Mall, Uniontown Mall, Washington Crown Center and the Johnstown Galleria — is going the way of other brick-and-mortar outlets that have shut their doors.
Two large liquidators acquired Bon-Ton Stores Inc. of Milwaukee in a bankruptcy court auction this week. Bon-Ton failed to find a buyer to continue operating its 260 stores in 24 states. Once the asset sale is completed, the stores will close within 12 weeks, CNBC reported.
Bon-Ton spokesman Tim Ragones said he did not know how long the stores will remain open or how many employees in Western Pennsylvania will lose their jobs, as that is the decision of liquidators Great American Group of Los Angeles and Tiger Capital Group of New York.
Neither Tiger Capital nor Great American spokesmen could be reached for comment. A group of bondholders also acquired a stake in the company, which filed for bankruptcy in February.
Michael Egan, general manager of Westmoreland Mall, said he could not comment on Bon-Ton's imminent closing. It is one of the mall's four anchor tenants, joined by Macy's, Sears and JCPenney.
Westmoreland Mall, east of Greensburg on Route 30 in Hempfield, is owned by CBL Properties of Chattanooga, Tenn. CBL officials released a statement saying the company is disappointed with the outcome of the bankruptcy court auction but views this as an opportunity to redevelop its anchor store properties.
CBL said it has contingency plans for the stores that are in 16 of the company's 95 properties. Two of the closures were previously announced and, of the remaining 14, 10 are leased and the remainder are owned by others.
"We have several replacements under advanced negotiation," CBL officials said.
CBL owns Bon-Ton's anchor store space, according to the Westmoreland County tax map. Of the mall's four anchor stores, only JCPenney owns its space, according to tax records.
Stacey Keating, CBL's public relations director, said she could not comment on a specific store site. CBL has been redeveloping underperforming space in its retail properties, filling them in some cases with other retail stores, physical fitness centers, restaurants and entertainment centers.
JCPenney, Macy's and Sears have closed stores as their companies have struggled financially. Sears announced it is shuttering seven stores in addition to the 166 stores previously pegged for closure. Macy's will close almost a dozen stores this year, adding to the list of 60 that were marked to close last year. JCPenney plans to close eight stores in addition to the nearly 140 that were named last year.
Bon-Ton joins many other retailers in filing bankruptcy over the past year. Eleven major retailers went bankrupt in 2017, according to the online RetailDive website. Among those were Eastern Outfitters, The Limited, Vanity, hhgregg, RadioShack, Gander Mountain, Payless Shoe, Rue21 and Gymboree.
The trend for retailers filing for bankruptcy is predicted to continue this year and into next year, according to a column written by Michael McGrail, Tiger Group's chief operating officer.
McGrail wrote that he sees strong challenges facing U.S. department stores, mall-based specialty retailers and smaller furniture chains, among others. He did not foresee the positive economic trends as being able to save the decades-old chains nearing the end of their life cycles.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.
