Herberger's liquidation sale begins

The Herberger’s at Kalispell Center Mall will begin a liquidation sale Friday morning following their parent company Bon-Ton’s sale to liquidators, according to store manager Gary Evans.

Bon-Ton owned Herberger’s and several other department store brands in the Midwest and Northeast. On Wednesday a Delaware bankruptcy court approved a sale of the company’s assets to liquidators. The liquidation sales are expected to run for approximately 10 to 12 weeks.

Evans said that in the early stages of the sale the store will operate under normal hours. Since the company has undergone an ownership change in the last 24 hours, he was unclear how they would operate in the ensuing months.

Court documents from the liquidation deal included the stipulation that every Bon-Ton store in the nation would cease any kind of operations by Aug. 31.

Kalispell Center Mall is owned by Gooddale & Barbieri Co. David Peterson, executive vice-president and COO of the company, said Herberger’s had been a tenant since the mall was constructed in 1985 and this presented an opportunity to fill the space with a new anchor retailer.

“While other malls across the country have experienced department stores opening and closing over the years, we have been fortunate to have three anchors that have enjoyed success in the Flathead Valley and in the Kalispell Center Mall,” Peterson said. “The future closing of Herberger’s represents the first opportunity we have had to bring a new anchor store in our mixed-use project.”

The Kalispell Herberger’s employs between 60 and 75 people, a figure that peaks in the summer months, Evans said.

Laura Gardner, manager at Job Service Kalispell, said she had been in contact with store management to help them connect their current employees with opportunities after the store shuts down for good.

She said anytime a business with more than 60 workers closes its doors, it has a big impact on the local economy. But thanks to a wealth of new commercial properties going up on the north end of Kalispell, she was optimistic that people with sales experience would be OK.

“Anytime there are layoffs or business closures we provide our rapid-response business workshops, just to help them with the transition and help them move from this job to the next job,” Gardner said.

Gardner said that of the 950 jobs listed on their website, 150 were in sales. She said they could also help employees file paperwork to attain unemployment benefits if they weren’t able to find immediate work.

Jerry Meerkatz, president of Montana West Economic Development, said the news of Herberger’s closure was particularly discouraging because it comes so soon after their yearlong renovation, which was completed just 10 months ago.

“It is a big blow, particularly with all the excitement of Herberger’s having just expanded and making a pretty big impact on the valley in the last year,” Meerkatz said. “It looked like they were right in line with the growth that was happening in the valley. It was part and parcel.”

Meerkatz said his organization doesn’t work much with national retailers, but his sense was that this should not undermine confidence in the strong economic trends people were observing elsewhere in the valley. He also said he suspected this would have happened no matter how successful the Kalispell location of Herberger’s had been, because it’s fate was tied to the larger, failing corporation.

“We have every indication that this valley is growing like gangbusters. There is a lot of activity, a lot of expansion going on,” Meerkatz said. “I believe that this is an anomaly because everywhere else we are looking in every community in the Flathead Valley everything is going great.”

Just after 4 p.m. on Thursday, customers with Herberger’s credit cards began to receive emails from the company telling them the cards would no longer be accepted as valid payment effective immediately. It also said no rewards accrued through the benefits program associated with the card would be honored going forward.

Herberger’s normal hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.