Bon-Ton Stores

Bon-Ton's April 2018 liquidation ended 120 years of regional department store history. The company operated 260 stores across the Midwest and Northeast under names like Bergner's, Elder-Beerman, and Herberger's. When no buyer materialized, liquidators converted all stores to going-out-of-business sales. Bon-Ton demonstrated the impossible middle position of regional department stores: too small for scale advantages, too large for boutique positioning, too physical for e-commerce competition. The stores became strip mall and warehouse conversions.