Bon-Ton September Sales Up Slightly

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. has announced comparable store sales in the five weeks ended Sept. 29 increased 0.6%.

Total sales increased 0.7% to $288.9 million in the current year compared with $286.9 million in the prior year period.

Bon-Ton has a store in the Palmer Park Mall.

Year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 0.1%. Year-to-date total sales decreased 0.2% to $1.705 billion compared with $1.709 billion in the same period last year.

Brendan Hoffman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We gained momentum the final two weeks in the month and finished strong. We largely attribute our performance to a better balanced merchandise assortment and refined marketing efforts. Our multi-channel methods of communicating with our customers created excitement and traffic.

"In addition, our customers continued to respond favorably to the new fall receipts. The best performing categories were fine jewelry, better sportswear, dresses, shoes, men’s sportswear and ladies’ large sizes. Our eCommerce business delivered a strong double-digit sales gain. Our inventory management efforts have us well-positioned to take advantage of sales opportunities in season.”

Keith Plowman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Our excess borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility was approximately $402 million at the end of September.”

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. with corporate headquarters in York, Pa., and Milwaukee, Wis., operates 272 department stores, which includes 11 furniture galleries, in 23 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains under the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s and Younkers nameplates and, in the Detroit, Mich., area, under the Parisian nameplate.

The department stores offer a broad assortment of national and private brand fashion apparel and accessories for women, men and children, as well as cosmetics and home furnishings. For further information, please visit the investor relations section of the company’s website at http://investors.bonton.com.