Finance & Capital Management

Bon-Ton plans to close its Bon-Ton store in the Clearview Mall in Butler, Pennsylvania, and its Elder-Beerman store in the Raleigh Mall in Beckley, West Virginia. The company will not renew these leases, which terminate Jan. 31, 2015.

The closings will affect approximately 38 and 39 store employees at the Clearview Mall and Raleigh Mall locations, respectively.

Washington, D.C. - The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales) to increase a healthy 4% to $616.9 billion, higher than 2013’s actual 3% increase during that same time frame. This would mark the first time since 2011 that holiday sales would increase more than 4%.

Levi Strauss has added Jenny Ming to its board of directors. Ming is president and CEO of Charlotte Russe, a specialty retailer of apparel and accessories catering to young women, with more than 500 stores across the US, a position she has held since October 2009.

Frankfort, Ill. – Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team recently brokered the sale of Prairie Crossings Shopping Center in Frankfort, Illinois. The 109,079-square-foot center was purchased by Oak Brook, Illinois.-based Inland Real Estate Corporation for $24.66 million.

PepsiCo has appointed Tony West EVP of government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective Nov. 24. He succeeds Larry Thompson, who is retiring after almost a decade of service.

Holiday sales are projected to grow at their fastest level in years, rising 4.1% to nearly $617 billion after a 3.1% increase last year, according to an annual forecast released by the National Retail Federation.

Dallas -- Cypress Equities companies announced that Cypress Lake Pleasant, LP, a new affiliated partnership, has purchased the fee simple interest in the Lake Pleasant Crossing shopping center in Peoria, Arizona.

Cypress previously held a ground lease interest in the property, having developed the existing shopping center and Lowe’s Home Improvement Center on the site. With the purchase, Cypress is in the process of making several upgrades to the existing center as well as planning for the second phase of development.

Burlington, N.J. - Affiliates of Bain Capital Partners LLC and certain other stockholders of Burlington Stores Inc. intend to offer eight million shares of the company’s common stock in an underwritten public offering. The offering consists entirely of secondary shares to be sold by the selling stockholders.

Burlington Stores will not sell any shares in the offering and will not receive any proceeds from the offering. J.P. Morgan is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering.