There are lots of reasons Bon-Ton failed. One of the biggest: It wasn't best at anything.

The Bon-Ton had an advantage over the competition: Its name.

And, according to Philip Emma, that was part of the problem that faced the York County icon.

The senior analyst at Debtwire studies troubled businesses. He acknowledged that many customers have fond memories of the store: nostalgia. But even so, in today's world, convenience and value are often more important.

And those who didn't grow up in the Bon-Ton's heyday likely had a much different impression of the business.

To most customers, the store simply wasn't memorable.

It wasn't the cheapest. It sure wasn't the most expensive either.

In the retail world, it wasn't known for its customer service. Emma said that was especially true when The Bon-Ton cut staffing to make up for budget shortfalls.

Its products weren't anything incredibly unique or well-known to most.

In short, in the Internet age, the business was forgettable. Even Boring.

More:Bon-Ton Stores' going-out-of-business sales start Friday

Emma hesitated to use language that blunt. But he said that's probably the best way to describe the problem.

This past week, The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. agreed to sell its assets to a group of debt holders and liquidators. Approximately 250 stores under various brands owned by the company are expected to close.

Emma said Bon-Ton is one of many similar retailers to fall behind. It's a concept known as "death in the middle": Today, customers are flocking to high-end or low-end brands. 

More:'It's sad': Bon-Ton closing upsets locals

That's why both Nordstrom and Walmart are thriving, according to Forbes' Steve Dennis.

But businesses like Bon-Ton fall into a different category: Retailers with a moderate scale, moderate prices and middle-of-the-road products. "The overall experience is dull, dull, dull. ... It turns out it's (a) really bad time to be boring," Dennis writes.

A good idea

At one point, Bon-Ton's was a smart strategy, said Ben Unglesbee, a reporter with the industry publication Retail Dive. 

When the business bought over 100 new stores in the mid-2000s, offering products somewhere between bargain and luxury helped the business grow and sent its stock soaring.

Emma said Bon-Ton thought it had an advantage: Buying stores where they had few physical competitors.

More:The Bon-Ton failed because it tried to be the Saks Fifth Avenue of middle America

It was okay to be average, because that's all a lot of people wanted, the logic went.

Following news of the company's expansion into the Midwest, Fortune called Bon-Ton a "smart buy right now." CNN put it atop their "Hottest Retailers of 2007" list, which was ranked by growth.

But the process also saddled the company with enormous debts.

Hard times — for many reasons

In the years that followed lots went wrong.

The great recession hit.

Internet sales skyrocketed.

Lenders lost faith in the business.

And the bankruptcy process didn't improve the situation, as it has for some other retailers.

Unglesbee knows why businesses like Bon-Ton are struggling: Their core customers are finding the same prices online, with increased convenience. There's no good reason to go to the store, for many.

Photos:The Bon-Ton, York County icon, since 1898

But why did Bon-Ton fold before many other similar retailers? Hard to say.

Maybe all that debt made it difficult for the company to innovate, take risks. Maybe the leadership just didn't have the vision to do so. Maybe a little of both, Unglesbee said.

But in the end, the result was clear to him: "​they couldn’t adapt fast enough.”

For its part, Bon-Ton has cited partnerships with FAO-Schwarz, Goodwill and Australian clothing brand Mambo among its innovative collaborations.

But Emma said he saw especially troubling evidence of decline in Bon-Ton's finances.

They had a sales problem. They simply weren't profitable most of the year -- with the exception of the holidays. 

He said their solution was to cut expenses. Less staff took a moderate customer experience down another peg. The Bon-Ton experience became more average, more forgettable.

"No customer wants to be average, and today, in most instances, no customer has to be," wrote Dennis.