Last days of ElderBeerman nearing

The final days of Elder-Beerman are winding down. The department store chain that began in Dayton is expected to close its local stores this month.

Last week, the company

liquidating the merchandise for Bon Ton Inc., the parent company of Elder-Beerman, announced sales between 60 and 80 percent storewide. The company also is offering 10 percent off an entire purchase at checkout through Aug. 31, the last planned day of liquidation sales.

Scott Carpenter, vice president of retail solutions for the Great American Group, the company hired to liquidate Bon-Ton stores, told us some stores could begin closing earlier.

There are Elder-Beerman locations in Piqua, Huber Heights and Kettering as well as the region’s two largest malls: Dayton Mall and the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

Grocery delivery

Kroger began its own grocery delivery service last week to customers’ homes through package carriers.

Kroger Ship launched the new service in Cincinnati and three other out-of-state markets with plans to roll out the new delivery method to the Dayton region over the next

few months, the company told us.

Customers can shop from a selection of 4,500 “Our Brands” products and more

than 50,000 other groceries and household essentials. The shipping through package carriers would normally be free for an order of $35 or more

and cost $4.99 for orders under $35.

During the launch phase, customers will receive 15 percent off their first cart and won’t have to pay for shipping even if their orders are under $35.

The grocer will still con

tinue to use third-party services such as Instacart Inc. to provide local delivery of bagged groceries, the com

pany told us.

Tickets remain high here

Tickets purchased for flights out of the Dayton International Airport remain about 17 percent higher than the national average.

Reporter Holly Shively reported Dayton International

Airport had an average ticket price of $404 in the first quar-

There are ElderBeerman locations in Piqua, Huber Heights and Kettering as well as the region’s two largest malls: Dayton Mall and the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

ter of the year, nearly $58 more than the national average at $346.

Part of that is because Dayton only has one lowcost carrier — Allegiant — and it offers only 60-70 seats per day.

“Our fares are primarily business fares, which means we have a lot of fares that are sold, that are bought, at the last minute, and that drives up our fare costs, which is OK. That’s just the reality of what it is,” Terry Slaybaugh, airport director, told us. “It’s really a factor of the fact that they can make money on those routes.”

Only 2 percent of Dayton Airport’s flights are considered low-capacity, much lower than the up to 35 percent seen in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati airport saw much lower fares at the beginning of this year. CVG saw a 16 percent drop in ticket costs in the first quarter with average rate of $328 a ticket.

Dayton isn’t alone in its lack of low-cost flight providers.

Other small-hub airports have struggled recently to keep prices low as airlines consolidate and move hubs to larger airports. The four major carriers, American, Delta, United and Southwest, control 81 percent of domestic capacity.