Dafuq is "Bon-Ton"?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/heres-a-map-of-all-of-bon-tons-stores.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bon-Ton

So, there has been a lot of news about this department store going bankrupt. I have never heard of this chain in my life. This is real thing? How many other hacksaw non-Macy’s (which is itself in financial trouble) chains are waiting to go under? Can’t help buy be short retail.

Lol. Bon-Ton used to be a big deal in more rural areas as an anchor. I actually thought they went under like 10 years ago and was surprised to see they’re still around.

what it really shows is maybe solid bricks and mortar retail names are viable in the long-term because zombie stores like bon-ton soak up some mall traffic and depress sales volumes and prices. wrt to bon ton in particular, the malls in which they reside will likely just die.

Yeah I agree with MLA, I think there were a lot of zombie overcapacity in shopping that was just hanging around post crisis. It’s become a winner take all market with top tier malls still killing it and the lower tier undergoing an overdue shakeout. Online is definitely taking share, but it’s taking share from the malls and stores that didn’t really offer anything beyond basically existing in terms of the customer experience.

Some surprises I saw this past month: - There is a store called T-K-Maxx in Dublin. I thought it was a fake knockoff, but it actually relates to T-J-Maxx in the US. I’m not sure why they just didn’t keep the same name. - K-Mart is in Australia. I went in there actually to try to find a watch for surfing yesterday (like a cheap Timex or something) and all they had were these $7-$20 knockoffs that weren’t even waterproof. Like a fake G-Shock watch. Really really cheap looking watches. I couldn’t get the meter outside to work so rushed in and out, but the meter police got me within 15min for a $79 ticket. fack. I didn’t even end up getting a watch. I thought the ticket would be $20 or something. I was wrong… :frowning:

the fact of the matter in retail is WAY too many malls were built & frankly there isnt enough demand post internet to support it. Go into any Sears & tell me its a store that needs to exist - its got huge locations with terrible per square foot sales, horrible merchandising and in general just isnt competitive. Whats interesting is the boxes in more urban locations for these old malls are frequently being converted to the new mixed use resi/retail locations lots of millennials are interested in and those can be some very attractive transitional/value add real estate investments. Retail deals are the most interesting in real estate as it is such a feast or famine type scenario generally, you either have the location/layout/vibe tenants are looking for and you will thrive, or you dont and you will slowly bleed out.

the anchors of the traditional mall just arent the draw they once were and have been replaced with smaller strip malls with targets as anchor. the malls that seem to be thriving have a few commonalities in that they are located near highways and in between fairly large population centers, and specialty malls targeting either high end luxury or with enough amenities (movie theaters, restaurants etc) to bring in people on their own & allow the customers to walk around and shop the mall before/after what drew them their.

they should turn all bon ton locations into bonchon locations. this will begin the process of making america great again! delicious!

We are definitely over-retailed as others have said (see chart). That’s the real issue in retail today with E-commerce eating away at the margins (though becoming bigger).

Per Bon-Ton, yeah my Mom used to love that store. I always hated being dragged into that place when I didn’t own a car…

^ while the difference is astounding, there is a good reason why the US has so many more square feet per capita. the US has the room. the UK, Japan, etc doesn’t have the room to open costcos and sprawling malls everywhere. although recent articles i’ve read have the US at 24 not 31. canada has the same problem of having too much space. canada’s # is 17 for much of the same reason. if you eliminate cities experiencing depopulation in the US, i bet it’s number is closer to the more healthy canadian number.

China, Brazil and India have lots of room.

The US doesn’t have too much room, it has too few people. (But only for this ratio.)

MLA, agree that the US’s more open space explains part of the higher retail sq. ft per capita. That said, it still really is an issue of too much retail space. There is a saying that has been going around the retail REIT space for years now. “Malls aren’t oversupplied, they’re underdemolished.” If you have lived or been to any tier II / tier III cities in the US that aren’t benefiting from above average population growth (e.g. major cities in FL, TX), then you will definitely understand that phrase.

Further, all you have to do is look at Manhattan street retail. The availability rate of space is astounding (see link) given the density of and tourist inflow to NYC. Some of that has to do with landlords holding out for yesteryear’s eyepopping rents ($4K/ sf on 5th ave). Most of it though can be explained by oversupply of retail space trying to get the next Chanel, Lululemon, or Applestore…

link dont work CBB, is it just me?

Sorry. Link now updated.