Fashion Bug  stores, longtime favorite shops of mine, will completely disappear by 2013, but the store is still going strong at 4057 Buffalo Road in Erie.

The store has new arrivals and lots of cool fashions for fall and winter, so the brand and the store are definitely on my shopping list this month.

Ascena Retail Group Inc., of Suffern, N.Y., bought Charming Shoppes Inc., the Bucks County, Pa.-based parent of Fashion Bug. Ascena also operates Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice clothing chains (for girls) along with all the Lane Bryant and other brands. In all, the company operates 3,800 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer said that Ascena originated with Dressbarn, founded by Roslyn Jaffe in 1926. Her son, David, is the current CEO.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa.