Bon Ton is Closing Out Cards :(

[kberly69]

I'm really sad about it. I do a lot of internet shopping but I want to be able to see in person, feel, and try on clothes before I buy. Not a fan of the hassle of returns via mail/UPS/ Fed Ex. Younkers was my first (and usually successful) stop when I needed clothes or shoes. Waaaahhhh 

[gdale6]

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@Dalmus wrote:

Bon Ton is partially the victim of internet shopping, sure... but they are also a victim of their own stupidity.  They leveraged too much debt to buy too many regional store brands and rather than consolidating them all under one name (short term hurt, sure, due to customer loyalty to the old name) and using national ad buys to efficiently market themselves, they kept all the regional names, pretty much forcing themselves into a bloated marketing budget that had to duplicate its efforts for each different store name.

Sad, for sure.

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Bon-Ton did not take on the debts, the vulture capitalists that owned them loaded the corporation with debt while extracting all the worth for themselves its the same thing that happened to Toys-R-Us.

[Dalmus]

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@gdale6 wrote:

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@Dalmus wrote:

Bon Ton is partially the victim of internet shopping, sure... but they are also a victim of their own stupidity.  They leveraged too much debt to buy too many regional store brands and rather than consolidating them all under one name (short term hurt, sure, due to customer loyalty to the old name) and using national ad buys to efficiently market themselves, they kept all the regional names, pretty much forcing themselves into a bloated marketing budget that had to duplicate its efforts for each different store name.

Sad, for sure.

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Bon-Ton did not take on the debts, the vulture capitalists that owned them loaded the corporation with debt while extracting all the worth for themselves its the same thing that happened to Toys-R-Us.

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 Exactly.  Its the story of MANY venerable companies that went bankrupt. Whenever I see a reasonably sucessful private corp being acquired by a holding group, I cringe, an am not surprised when I hear about the bankruptcy 5-10 years later.

[Anonymous]

Here's my take on the indoor shopping mall death.  People got fat.  Didn't want to walk from one end of the mall to the other.  WalMarts have a dozen electric scooters each.  Shopping malls had none.

There is also a direct correlation between the failure of indoor shopping malls and pharmacies being on every corner in town.  The population grew old, they don't go shopping anyway and the younger generation buys everything on the internet.

I can tell you another trick.  WalMart stopped their price matching policy except with their own website.  Everything on WalMart.com that is edible is way more expensive on the internet than it is at a store.  They kinda force you to visit their grocery section to shop.  That way you'll walk by and pick up more stuff.

[FinStar]

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@kberly69 wrote:

I received an email today saying that my Younkers card is being closed due to the Bon Ton bankruptcy.  Can't use it as of today, nor can we use any rewards accrued. It will be closed in June. Bummer

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@kberly69 wrote:

I received an email today saying that my Younkers card is being closed due to the Bon Ton bankruptcy.  Can't use it as of today, nor can we use any rewards accrued. It will be closed in June. Bummer

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Yep, same thing here for Elder-Beerman and one of my oldest retail cards before they were transferred from HSBC to Comenity.