The massacre of retailing in malls and shopping centers continues with the closing of Bon-Ton Store’s Carson’s and Bergner department stores in Illinois and the lay off of 330 employees. Bon-Ton has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, “The Company’s stores, e-commerce and mobile platforms under the Bon-Ton, Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s and Younkers nameplates are open and operating as usual. As previously announced, the Company is closing 47 stores in 2018, four of which closed in January and one store that is near completion and 42 additional at which store closing sales began on February 1, 2018, and will run for approximately 10 to 12 weeks.”
UPDATE: MAY 17, 2018
It appears that Bon-Ton, which entered bankruptcy in February 2018 cannot find a buyer for its stores and is starting to shut down operations, laying off up to 1,800 area employees and liquidating inventory before shutting the doors. This according to the State of Illinois Monthly WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Activity Listing for April 2018.
UPDATE: MAY 18, 2018
It appears that the count employee layoffs is increasing and now appears to be over 2,000. employees.
Are you asking yourself, Am I Next?