Fashion Bug, a women's apparel and accessories chain with a long history in the region, will disappear from the retail landscape next year.
Ascena Retail Group Inc., of Suffern, N.Y., completed an $890 million buyout in June of Charming Shoppes Inc., the Bucks County-based parent of Fashion Bug.
Ascena, which operates the Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice clothing chains, announced it will close the remaining hundreds of Fashion Bug stores by early in 2013.
It did not report how many people would be laid off and efforts to reach Ascena were unsuccessful.
Fashion Bug currently operates stores in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre Twp., Honesdale, Tunkhannock, Mount Pocono and Matamoras.
The company's website says there are 600 Fashion Bug stores in 43 states.
"Fashion Bug has been a disaster for years," said Howard Davidowitz, a New York retail consultant and investment banker.
"They could never do the volume to justify the size of their stores."
Ascena will expand its reach into the women's plus-size market with the addition of Charming Shoppes' Lane Bryant and Catherines Plus Sizes stores.
Charming Shoppes failed in an attempt to protect Fashion Bug by acquiring other retail chains, Mr. Davidowitz said.
The company closed 124 Fashion Bugs in 2011.
"It was a tremendous drain on the company," he said. "They dragged the whole chain down."
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com