No Turn On Red

Boscov’s announced yesterday that a judge has approved the sale of the company’s assets to a group led by former chairman Albert Boscov and Edwin Lankin. In August, the retailer filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection and closed 10 of their stores. There has been some debate over who would receive the assets, as a judge reviewed competing bids from the family led group and Versa Capital Management.

I am personally happy to see the retailer remain in family control. Although I lost the Boscov’s in my area with the August closings, it was always a good mid-size department store alternative to the national chains. I hope the new owners can bring better days back to the retailer and see them through this economic mess.

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It’s official:

Boscov’s Inc., the 9,500-employee department-store chain founded in 1911 in Reading, Pennsylvania, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Wilmington, Delaware, today, citing decreased consumer spending.

Boscov’s, which said in court papers that it’s the biggest family-owned full-service department store chain in the U.S., will immediately close 10 of its 49 stores. The company said it will borrow as much as $250 million from a group of lenders led by Bank of America Corp. to help it restructure.

The Associated Press has the full list of stores that are closing:

MARYLAND
Marley Station Mall, Glen Burnie
Owings Mills Mall, Owings Mills
White Marsh Mall, Baltimore

NEW JERSEY
Monmouth Mall, Eatontown

PENNSYLVANIA
Harrisburg East Mall, Harrisburg
Monroeville Mall, Monroeville
Montgomery Mall, North Wales
Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne
South Hills Village Mall, Bethel Park

VIRGINIA
Piedmont Mall, Danville

More coverage from the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.

This is a blow to the retailer that touts itself as American’s largest family owned department store. In an age of consolidation and rapid, national, retail expansion, Boscov’s was one of the last regional department store chains that we had here in the Mid-Atlantic.

I wonder how many of these locations are being scouted by JC Penney and Kohl’s.

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