Bon-Ton Stores to close two locations

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores announced it will close its Bon-Ton store in the Clearview Mall in Butler, Pennsylvania, and its Elder-Beerman store in the Raleigh Mall in Beckley, West Virginia.



The company will not renew these leases, which terminate January 31, 2015. The stores will close at the end of the leases.



Bon-Ton acquired the leasehold interests in the Clearview Mall store in 1982 and the Raleigh Mall store as part of its Elder-Beerman acquisition in 2003. The retailer does not expect costs associated with the closing of the locations to be material.



“While decisions to close stores are not taken lightly, we are very mindful of asset returns,” said Kathryn Bufano, president and CEO, Bon-Ton Stores, which operates 273 stores. “Store closings are part of ongoing real estate initiatives in which we selectively and strategically conclude operations at underperforming locations while also seeking opportunities in markets where we believe our assets will be better employed. As a result of our performance reviews, we felt it prudent to close the aforementioned stores.”