Bon-Ton's Buccina to retire; company seeks new chief merchant

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/1/2012 4:33:41 PM

York, Pa. - After spending the past 20 years at The Bon-Ton Stores, Tony Buccina has decided to retire from his post as vice chairman, president-merchandising, as of Feb. 15, 2013.

The 272-unit regional department chain said it has begun a search for a new chief merchandising officer.

Company president and ceo Brendan Hoffman said: "Tony has been a great partner to both our vendor community and to me. I appreciate the leadership and the contributions he has provided to the company over the years and will continue to provide this year."

In related news, Bon-Ton has appointed Luis Fernandez to the newly created position of evp and chief marketing officer, effective May 7. Reporting to Hoffman, Fernandez will be charged with heading sales promotion and marketing, and e-commerce.

Fernandez was most recently at Neiman Marcus Group, where he served as vp, Last Call marketing and customer insight. In this position, he led planning, management and optimization of multi-channel marketing for the Last Call division. From 2007 to 2010 he served as the company's vp, marketing, online and catalog, and from 2002 to 2006 he was vp, marketing and systems strategy.

"I am very excited to welcome Luis as a new member of the Bon-Ton team," Hoffman said. "I had the pleasure of working with him at Neiman Marcus and have a great deal of respect for the knowledge and experience he brings to this position. I know Luis shares my vision of optimizing technology to reach our customers - existing and new - to increase awareness of our message of fashion, quality and value. We look forward to his contributions to our organization."