Spring Hill Mall Carson's To Close

ST. CHARLES, IL – The nearly-vacant Charlestowne Mall will soon lose another anchor store. On Wednesday, a liquidation group won Bon-Ton Stores Inc. in an auction, which includes all of the company's assets. Now, all of the 160 remaining Carson's stores, including locations in St. Charles, Vernon Hills and Dundee, will close by the end of this summer, according to reports.

Carson's has been operation for more than 160 years, the Chicago Tribune reports. Court documents show liquidation sales could start on Thursday and must be complete by Aug. 31. As of Feb. 3, the retailer employed nearly 23,000 people across the nation.

Bon-Ton operates 260 stores in 24 states, mostly in the northeast and midwest, under the Bon-Ton, Boston Store, Bergner's, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's and Younkers nameplates. In January, the struggling retailer announced that it was shuttering seven Illinois stores in Aurora, Chicago, Danville, DeKalb, Morton Grove, Peoria and Schaumburg. Now, all 22 Chicago-area stores will shutter, according to the Chicago Tribune. The stores slated for closure include Carson stores in St. Charles, Bloomingdale, Dundee, Lombard and Vernon Hills.

After the Carson store at the Charlestowne Mall closes, only two remaining anchor businesses will remain: Von Maur and Classic Cinemas Charlestowne 18 theater. Kohl's closed in 2016.

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been struggling with the effects of online retail stores like Amazon, specialty and discount stores. The announcement that Bon-Ton was going out of business comes on the heels of the liquidation of Toys R Us and Sears.

Bon-Ton issued a statement Wednesday:

On April 18, 2018, Bon-Ton officially announced Bankruptcy Court approval of the sale of the inventory and substantially all of the Company's assets. As such, Bon-Ton will conduct an orderly wind-down of its operations and is committed to minimizing the impact of this development on our associates, customers, vendors and the communities we serve.

We expect the liquidation process in all Bon-Ton stores to begin shortly. Throughout the store closing sales, our stores, e-commerce and mobile platforms under the Bon-Ton, Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's and Younkers nameplates will remain open and serving customers. We will continue to provide more details on our going out of business sales in the near term. On behalf of all of us, thank you for your support and business.

Lorraine Swanson contributed to this report

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Photo caption: Carson's at Spring Hill Mall/Photo credit: GoogleMaps