Aug. 5--Business as usual prevailed Monday in Fairlane Village mall at Boscov's Department Store, one of 39 that will survive the parent company's filing for bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

"It's a great store for us," Maralyn Lakin, senior vice president of the Reading-based department store chain, said Monday of the Schuylkill County store. "It's a profitable store for us. It's one of our hometown stores."

Local shoppers, in turn, also expressed happiness that the Fairlane Village store is not one of the 10 that will shut its doors in the wake of Boscov's Department Store LLC's voluntary petition asking for reorganization.

"You get good merchandise for a decent price," said Nancy Killian, New Ringgold, who was relieved that her favorite store would remain open. "They have good products."

The petition, filed under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, plus a $250 million loan from Bank of America, will allow Boscov's to continue to operate during the back-to-school season that for retailers is second in importance only to Christmas, Chairman and CEO Kenneth S. Lakin said in a written statement. Read the bankruptcy filing here.

Ken Lakin attributed the bankruptcy filing, which also could allow the company to restructure some of its debt, to the national economic downturn, slowing consumer spending and a tight credit market.

Those, in turn, placed pressure on Boscov's from its creditors, including its largest, clothing supplier Jones Apparel Group Inc., Bristol, which the chain listed in its petition as being owed $3,110,015.

However, those factors have not hurt the Fairlane Village store or the mall, said David Silver, corporate director of marketing for Levin Management Group, the mall's leasing agent.

"We felt that ... this store not (being) on the list of closings is very positive," he said of one of the mall's two anchor stores, the other being Value City Department Store. "It's a very strong store."

The store's strength, in turn, has helped the mall, which is adding two new stores, Harbor Freight Tools and Super Shoes, Silver said.

"The mall is doing better and better every day," said Silver.

In spite of large debts such as that owed to Jones Apparel Group, Boscov's in its petition said it had greater assets, $538 million, than liabilities, $479 million.

Daniel J. DeFranceschi, Wilmington, Del., the attorney who filed the petition for Boscov's, did not return telephone calls seeking comment on the case.

Boscov's will now be run jointly under Chapter 11 by its management and a committee of creditors comprised of representatives of the companies to which Boscov's owes the most. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross, to whom the case has been assigned, also would have the power to order the appointment of a trustee to operate Boscov's.