Boscov's closing Monroeville, South Hills stores

Boscov's will close both its Monroeville Mall and South Hills Village stores as part of its bankruptcy restructuring plan.

The Reading-based department store chain, with a total four locations in the Pittsburgh region, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning.

The family-owned company said in its court filing it would immediately close 10 of the 49 stores it operates in six mid-Atlantic states.

Boscov's opened the Monroeville and South Hills stores two years ago in former Kaufmann's locations that it acquired from Federated Department Stores Inc., now Macy's Inc. Stores at the Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca and Clearview Mall in Butler existed before, and apparently are not affected.

The retailer also said it would borrow up to $250 million from lenders led by Bank of America Corp. to help it during the restructuring process.

In the papers filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Boscov's also lists $538 million in assets and $479 million in debts as of May 3.

CEO Ken Lakin has blamed trying economic times for Boscov's troubles, saying consumers are spending less, and sales are down.

He said some suppliers had stopped making deliveries to stores, and the company cut about 200 positions from its central office and 10 to 20 at each store.

The company admits in its court filing that the 10 stores it acquired in 2006 haven't generated the anticipated increases in cash flow and profit.