Fucking millenials! Lol
Caught an ad for the BON-TON liquidation right here on the Fortress, this one for Herbergers which is located somewhat further east of where I am in the state.
I found the pictures I had taken on 6/1/18 of our "local" Younkers store here in Plover Wisconsin. The Younkers in Appleton, as well as Wausau are both shuttered, making this the only Younkers store for about 200 miles now, and it'll remain so until the sales end around August (according to the woman I spoke with). It seems like they have a longer-term lease on this building, so they've made this their sales hub, not bad.
This store had been opened as an Elder-Beerman store, and then became a Younkers store around 2007-2008. What will happen to it after the sale is a mystery, though I expect the massive demand for retail space in the Stevens Point area won't leave this place empty for long.
According to the liquidation firm that shuttered Younkers to pay off it's creditors, they are in the process of selling the entirety of the Bon-Ton's intellectual property (including all the store names, brands, and logos) to an unnamed party. However, their intentions seem pretty clear to bring the stores back.
Considering that Younkers, at least here in Wisconsin, was doing alright in their smaller format stores, it would make sense to buy back into the business and then only operate the profitable locations with new stock and merchandise. With virtually all of Younker's baggage and overhead long gone thanks to the liquidation, it's prime time for a vulture to swoop in and plunder it now.
The buyer has been revealed to be CSC Generation, probably best known as the owner of DirectBuy, a furniture store and Killion, an online store for menswear. Considering their existing portfolio, becoming the new Bon-Ton/Younkers/Boston Store/etc. isn't too much of a stretch. It'll be interesting to see what stores might actually come back.
News articles can be found below:
Quad City Times
NBC 13 News Eau Claire
ABC 18 Eau Claire
Des Moines Register
