Bon-Ton: Warm November hurts holiday sales.

Retailer reports 3.1% dip from ’15

Holiday sales were down 3.1% from the previous year for Bon-Ton Stores Inc., the company said Wednesday.

Bon-Ton, the parent company of Boston Store and Younkers, posted sales of $752.1 million in November and December, compared with $784.4 million in the same two months in 2015.

Kathryn Bufano, president and chief executive, noted that the mild November hurt sales.

“Following challenging sales trends in the first three weeks of November, business improved from Thanksgiving through the end of December,” she said in a statement. “During the holiday season, we continued to deliver double-digit growth in our omnichannel business, including mobile demand. Our best performing categories during the holiday season were men’s big and tall, furniture, women’s outerwear, and intimate apparel.”

Bufano added: “We are pleased to see the traction we are gaining on our merchandising initiatives despite weak mall traffic trends. Our focus remains on executing against our strategic initiatives, while prudently managing inventory levels and ex- penses.”

Bufano said the company’s earlier projection of a per-share loss in the range of $2.04 to $2.54 remains intact for fiscal 2016 but more likely at “the low end of the range.”

Bon-Ton, which has dual headquarters in Milwaukee and York, Pa., will report full earnings for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year on March 14.

Bon-Ton Stores operates 266 stores, which includes nine furniture galleries and four clearance centers, in 26 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains. Its other department store names are Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman and Herberger’s.