ST. CLOUD -- Herberger's in downtown St. Cloud, along with all the other Herberger's stores across the country, are closing.

The news came Tuesday when the store's parent company Bon-Ton Incorporated went through liquidation.

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis says while the news is disappointing, city leaders have been preparing for it.

Try to find a replacement for that location.  We're confident we can do that. But, that still doesn't change the fact that an institution in downtown is closing.  This is something that's beyond anyone's control here.  This impacts a lot of communities across the United States.

The President of the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce says the news of the Herberger's store closing is disappointing.

Herberger's is such an institution downtown and its been there so very long, so its a very sad outcome, one that it's difficult to respond to immediately.

Teresa Bohnen says Herberger's hasn't been a Chamber member for several years now, so she hasn't had any official contact with their management team.

Bohnen and other chamber members will be in Washington, D.C. next week and she expects the struggles of the retail business will likely be discussed.

The head of the Downtown St. Cloud Council says this could be an opportunity for redevelopment.

The Herberger's store had a pretty good amount of foot traffic coming in and out, so we'd love to see more retail.  But, we recognize that Capital One is right adjacent to Herberger's and it could be an opportunity for them to create additional employment downtown as well.

Executive Director Jolene Foss says the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation will most likely be leading the effort to work with the building's owners on the future of that space.

A timeline for the closures has not been released.

Bon Ton News Release:

Bill Tracy, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “While we are disappointed by this outcome and tried very hard to identify bidders interested in operating the business as a going concern, we are committed to working constructively with the winning bidder to ensure an orderly wind-down of operations that minimizes the impact of this development on our associates, customers, vendors and the communities we serve. We are incredibly grateful to all of our associates for their dedicated service to Bon-Ton and to our millions of loyal customers who we have had the pleasure to serve as their hometown store for more than 160 years.”

Throughout the court-supervised asset sale process, the Company’s 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 throughout the store closing sales. Bon-Ton expects to provide more details about the liquidation plans and going out of business sales at its stores following approval of the winning bid by the Bankruptcy Court. As previously announced, on February 4, 2018, Bon-Ton and

Herberger's also has stores in Blaine, Willmar, Baxter, and Roseville. Bon-Ton also owns stores under the names Carson's, Bergner's, and Younkers.

From the Associated Press: 
Two liquidation firms are the victors of an auction for the bankrupt company's assets after the retailer failed to find a bidder willing to continue operating the business. A bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to approve the sale and liquidation details.

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. was operating 260 stores in 24 states, largely in the Northeast and Midwest, when it filed for bankruptcy in January. Liquidation firms Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group are the winners of the auction.

The Bon-Ton Stores part of a larger group of retailers falling on hard times, facing bankruptcy and store closings. Toys R Us is also currently shutting its U.S. business.

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