Bon-Ton’s Survival? The Line Between Retailer And Landlord Continues To Blur

In May of 2016, Aeropostale filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with about 800 stores. Aeropostale was on the verge of liquidating all of their assets and becoming a retail afterthought. However, an unlikely band of investors including Simon Property Group, General Growth Properties, and Authentic Brands Group submitted a $234 million dollar bid. Since then, Aeropostale has refocused their efforts on store experience and cut down the number of stores to around 500. While I was skeptical of this move at the time, it appears to be a success and a model that Bon-Ton Stores (and others) may look to emulate. In February of this year, Bon-ton, a regional department chain with 256 stores, filed for chapter 11. Since the filing, several bids have been proposed to save the retailer and some to liquidate assets. A group consisting of DW Partners, and real estate firms Namdar Realty Group and Washington Prime Group proposed a $128 million acquisition of Bon-Ton. Namdar owns over 15 million square feet of commercial real estate and its portfolio includes a number of retail strip centers while Washington Prime owns over 38 million square feet of commercial real estate across its 109 properties. Both Namdar and Washington Prime both list Bon-Ton as a tenant in 15 of their properties, which affects 30 of the existing 256 stores. Read more at Forbes.