Filene's Basement
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Founder | Edward Filene |
| Defunct | 2011 |
| Headquarters | Burlington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
|
Number of locations
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20 stand-alone stores, 7 Syms & Filene's Basement |
|
Key people
|
Mark Shulman, President; James Rudd, Executive Vice President |
| Products | Apparel, jewelry, shoes, accessories and home goods. |
| $389.3 million [1] | |
| Parent | Syms |
| Website | www.filenesbasement.com |
Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms.
The oldest off-price retailer in the United States, Filene's Basement focused on high-end goods and was known for its distinctive, low-technology automatic markdown system. As of late 2006, the company operated stores in metropolitan areas in eight U.S. states and Washington, D.C. and used a 470,000-square-foot (44,000 m2) distribution center in Auburn, Massachusetts. The store's name was derived from the subterranean location of its flagship store, in the basement of the former Filene's department store at Downtown Crossing in Boston, Massachusetts. The flagship Downtown Crossing store closed in September 2007 while the building above it underwent construction and had been set to reopen following the conclusion of the construction.
The 2009 economic crisis negatively impacted the chain, prompting the closing of many stores and the eventual sale of the chain from Retail Ventures, Inc. to Buxbaum Group, which filed for bankruptcy in May 2009. Filene's Basement was then sold to Syms Corporation, which also owns the Syms chain of off-price stores. In November 2011, Syms filed for bankruptcy, resulting in a liquidation sale. The last Filene's Basement stores closed permanently on December 29, 2011. In 2012, private equity firm Trinity Place Holdings acquired by brand copyright to Filene's Basement. In fall of 2015, Filene's Basement was reopened exclusively as an online retailer.
The history of Filene's Basement is intertwined with that of the venerable Filene's chain. In 1908, Edward A. Filene, son of the founder of Filene's, William Filene, came up with the idea of selling surplus, overstock, and closeout merchandise in the basement of his father's store. Filene's "Automatic Bargain Basement", as it was originally called, opened in 1909 beneath the Downtown Crossing location.
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