PEORIA — "A department store is a theatrical stage — ever changing." That's what Thomas Liston, chairman of the board at Bergner's, told the Peoria Journal Star's Sharon Oberholtzer in a 1981 article. In 2018, news that the curtain is coming down on that stage would no doubt have disheartened Liston who died at the age of 97 in 2016. The Bon Ton Stores, the conglomerate that owns Bergner's, became the latest retail casualty this week when the firm announced it would be closing its stores by the end of summer...
