Bon-Ton Stores likely to be liquidated, report says

A proposed bid by two mall operators to keep the Bon-Ton Stores chain operating by buying it out of bankruptcy has failed to materialize, according to Reuters news service.

Columbus-based Washington Prime Group was part of an investor group that was seen as the chain’s last hope to continue as a going concern rather than be liquidated.

The Pennsylvania-based 200-store chain, which includes Elder-Beerman stores in Ohio, is expected to go out of business, after the only qualified bidders who emerged late Monday evening were liquidators, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters. The auction was set to conclude late Tuesday.

The closing would affect several Ohio malls owned by Washington Prime, including Indian Mound Mall in Heath, the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek and the Dayton Mall. All three of those malls have Elder-Beerman stores. River Valley Mall in Lancaster also has an Elder-Beerman store.

In all, 13 Washington Prime malls across the country have Bon-Ton stores under brand names including Carson’s, Herbergers and Younkers.

A spokeswoman for Washington Prime, whose malls include Polaris Fashion Place, declined to comment on the report Tuesday. Spokeswoman Kimberly Green said the court in Delaware where Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy protection in February is expected to give an update on the auction on Wednesday.

In what would have been an unusual move of having a retail real estate firms buying a retailer, Washington Prime had joined with New Yorkbased Namdar Realty Group and New York hedge fund DW Partners to try to put together a deal for Bon-Ton. Retail real estate companies rarely buy retailers, but the effort was seen in part as a way for the mall owners to avoid being left with empty anchor stores that could prompt other tenants to leave their malls.

Bon-Ton’s closing also likely would affect its e-commerce business, which has its main distribution center in West Jefferson. The company warned last week that that facility, which employs 330 workers, might close as a result of the bankruptcy.