Two anchor stores for Havre Holiday Village Mall closing this year

Havre's Holiday Village Mall is losing two of its main stores, but mall management isn't saying much about that.

Holiday Village Mall Manager Chandra Moomey said Monday that "things at the mall are great," and an official statement will be made about the situation at a later date.

She declined to comment on finding replacement stores for the two anchors.

Both Herberger's and the Havre Sears Hometown Store are in the process of closing.

Sears announced June 13 it was closing the Havre store, with an employee who asked not to be named saying the soft close date is set for July 23.

Representatives of Bon Ton's, the company that owns Herberger's, and Sears Holding Corp. did not return multiple calls and emails requesting comment before printing deadline today.

Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss said Monday that the closures are a major issue.

"It's clearly going to make an impact," he said.

"I think that we need to be concerned when one job is lost, let alone the number of jobs associated with both of these closures," Tuss said. "It's difficult in communities where closure decisions are being made by corporate headquarters located far from where these particular stores are located."

Tuss, who is challenging state Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, as a Democratic candidate in this year's election, added that every community, nationally and internationally, needs to become more nimble and creative as well as flexible about how the community is doing business in the new age of online shopping in order to be successful.  

"I think putting our collective heads together to try to figure out how we weather this storm," Tuss said. "Knowing that this storm is going to continue on is pretty important."

How the Havre Sears store does in its remaining time will determine if the store will stay open longer or close sooner, said an employee who asked not to be named.

In addition to this Sears closing, the Sears Hometown in Great Falls is also set to close. Both of these stores were previously owned by Terry Parsons.

A banner saying the Havre store is for sale still hangs in its front window, although it doesn't mean anything now with the closure, the employee said.

Even though there are still trucks arriving at this location, an employee said that the trucks are very empty with only a few items arriving for restocking. Whatever inventory remains after closing will be sent back to the corporate offices.

The employee added that, during the first week, items were reduced 5 percent and that they will be discounted more in the weeks to come.

Havre Sears Hometown has a total of five employees, he said.

Bon Ton Stores Inc., the parent company of Herberger's, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year and is now in the process of liquidation. The company announced April 17 that it was closing its more than 200 stores, including Herberger's stores, nationwide.

A Herberger's employee who asked not to be named said the Havre store's soft closing date is set for Aug. 31.

The Herberger's in Havre has seen an increase in traffic since the announcement of the store's closing, with price reductions happening weekly, the employee said, adding that trucks are arriving weekly with shipments, with the company cleaning out its distribution centers.

Havre's Herberger's has been in Holiday Village Mall for decades and employs around 40 people, he said, adding that the world is changing and that Bon Ton was just not able to last.

He also recommended that if the community would like a retail store in Havre similar to Herberger's, they should contact the Kohl's Corporation and that if Kohl's knows that there is a market in Havre, the corporation might be interested in opening a store in the Havre community in the future.