Bon-Ton Stores Laying Off 1,115

YORK, PA-Department-store company Bon-Ton Stores is the latest retailer to announce layoffs, with 1,150 planned for the current fiscal year. The company did not announce the closure of any of its 281 stores throughout the Northeast and Midwest and fall under the Bon-Ton, Carson Pirie Scott, and Elder-Beerman nameplates, among others.

The cutbacks are taking place in corporate offices and in stores, and management expects to save about $70 million annually as a result. Also eliminated were $40 million in planned capital expenditures, 2008 bonuses for senior management, merit-based pay raises this year and other expenses.

“We are taking necessary actions to reduce costs in response to additional pressure on the retail industry brought on by significant deterioration in both the financial markets and macroeconomic environment,” says Bud Bergren, Bon-Ton’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Earlier this month, executives announced that they plan to close an Elder-Beerman store in Hamilton, OH, some time in March. Bon-Ton’s December same-store sales fell 5.8% year over year, while total sales fell 5.6%, to $527.2 million.