The owner of the Elder-Beerman retail chain is unable to find a buyer and expects the stores will be closing in the coming months. Locally stores are in Alliance and New Philadelphia.
Elder-Beerman stores will close within the next 10 to 12 weeks, the top executive of the retailer's parent company announced Tuesday.
According to a Dayton Daily News report, William Tracy, Bon-Ton Stores chief executive officer, wrote in a letter to employees: “We expect to soon begin an orderly wind-down of operations.”
Tracy told employees that he expected a liquidation bid to buy the company would be the best and highest offer at a court-supervised auction. A hearing will be held on Wednesday during which Bon-Ton officials will ask the bankruptcy court to approve the sale, Tracy said.
“After operating our first store since 1854, I am saddened at the way the Bon-Ton story is coming to a close … I am honored to have led and served our customers alongside of you all … Thank you again for all of your outstanding work and dedication to Bon-Ton,” Tracy said.
The company’s stores include Elder-Beerman, Carson’s, Younkers, Bergner’s, Boston Store, and Herberger’s, as well as Bon-Ton.
Elder-Beerman has stores in Alliance's Carnation Mall, the New Towne Mall in New Philadelphia and Wayne Towne Plaza in Wooster.
Bon-Ton had been working with mall owners Washington Prime Group and Namdar Realty Group to secure a bid that would have kept open a large portion of Bon-Ton locations. Only two bids from liquidators were submitted during a bankruptcy auction. The department store will go out of business without a bid from a going-concern bidder, according to Reuters.
The company and its subsidiaries filed for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in early February.
Elder-Beerman dates back to 1883 when Boston Dry Goods Store opened in Dayton. It later became Elder & Johnston Co., which merged with Beerman Stores in 1962. The chain entered bankruptcy in the late 1990s and after exciting bankruptcy became part of Bon-Ton in 2003.