Pizza Hut, Lone Star Closing Kidder Street Locations

WILKES-BARRE, PA — Two more national brand eateries announced on Monday that they are closing their doors.

One week after its Hanover Township restaurant closed, and following two years of disappointing sales on a national level, Pizza Hut announced that its Kidder Street location also will shut down this week.

And Lone Star Steakhouse, part of a chain that features a Texas-inspired menu, will close its Kidder Street location this weekend. Employees at the restaurant confirmed Monday that the restaurant would close permanently on Saturday.

No one at Lone Star corporate offices in Plano, Texas, could be reached for comment.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/business-local-news-news/151386496/

J.C. Penney Stores In York, Chambersburg Among 39 Closing

The JCPenney at York Galleria will close for business around April 4.

Sarah Holland, JCPenney spokeswoman, said via email that the York Galleria store is one of 39 locations nationwide that will close. Throughout Pennsylvania, JCPenney is also closing stores at the Chambersburg Mall in Chambersburg, Susquehanna Valley Mall in Hummels Wharf, Granite Run Mall in Media and Nittany Mall in State College.

Holland said the closures are part of ongoing efforts to meet goals for company growth.

“We continually evaluate our store portfolio to determine whether there’s a need to close or relocate underperforming stores,” Holland said. “While it’s never an easy decision to close stores, especially due to the impact on our valued associates and customers, we feel this is a necessary business decision.”

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/business/ci_27281077/jc-penney-stores-york-chambersburg-close-according-report

Bon-Ton To Close Two Of Its Stores

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Butler County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. is shuttering two of its stores, citing low sales, the company said in a news release.

The Bon-Ton store in the Clearview Mall in Butler, Pennsylvania and the Elder-Beerman store in the Raleigh Mall in Beckley, West Virginia will close before January 31, 2015, when their respective leases end. Approximately 38 employees at the Clearview Mall Bon-Ton and 39 at the Raleigh Mall Elder-Beerman will lose their jobs, the press release said.

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_26679132/bon-ton-shuttering-two-stores

More Store Closings – Pathmark And Superfresh To Close Stores

Ten Delaware Valley underperforming supermarkets are closing shortly due to competition from Super Walmart stores.

The two stores closing closest to Pottstown are the Lionville Superfresh in Chester County and the Saucon Valley Pathmark.  Saucon Valley is an area south of Allentown and Bethlehem.  Other stores are mostly in New Jersey with one in Delaware and one in Yardley PA.

Superfresh and Pathmark are union operations and offer better wages and benefits than Walmart.  The store closings will put 600 people out of work.

Borders Bookstores File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Image via Wikipedia

Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Wednesday.

Borders is hemorrhaging cash at the rate of $2 million dollars a day from underperforming stores.  Borders intends to close 200 of its 642 stores nationwide.  The closures will come in the next few weeks.  Clearance sales could start as early as this weekend.

Borders will receive $505 million in debtor-in-possession financing from GE Capital Partners and others to help with the reorganization.  Borders owes over $100 million to various publishers.  Book sales nationwide fell 5 percent in 2010.  Borders controls 14.3 percent of the book selling market.  Barnes & Noble, on the other hand, controls 29.8 percent of the market which is helping them survive the economic downturn.

Borders has been in business since 1971, when it started out with one used bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Borders was owned by Kmart Corp. from 1992 until 2006.  Borders committed a fatal error when it opted out of their e-commerce contract with Amazon.com in 2001.  This decision made it possible for Barnes & Noble to eventually double Borders market share.