Bon-Ton hits some bumps in 3Q

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/17/2011 1:47:46 PM

York, Pa. - Coming off a third quarter with declines in sales and comps, The Bon-Ton Stores is planning more aggressive promotional events to drive traffic and transactions during the holiday season.

Bud Bergren, president and ceo, said, "Performance in our moderate traditional assortments was soft, and customers were not accepting of price increases in these categories, which further pressured sales results. Additionally, our marketing efforts did not drive the sales we had anticipated."

Net loss was $22.0 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, versus a net loss of $6.3 million, or 63 cents per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2010.

Sales fell 6.3% to $656.1 million, and comps decreased 5.9%.

Year-to-date, net loss totaled $90.3 million, or $5.00 per share, compared with a net loss of $63.5 million, or $3.60 per share in the same period last year.

Sales decreased 3.5% to $1.9 bilolion, while comps declined 3.0%.

Bon-Ton said it now expects its merchandise assortment to be "better aligned with customer preferences as we have significantly expanded our stronger selling updated categories. We believe our inventory is now priced appropriately and well-positioned heading into the holiday season and the changes we have instituted in merchandising and marketing will yield improved results in the fourth quarter."