SYMS

Syms Corp (styled as SYMS) was an off-price retail clothing store chain, founded by Sy Syms in 1959. Its headquarters was in Secaucus, New Jersey, where it became a public company, traded on the (SYM) in 1983. The company also owned Filene's Basement, which it acquired in June 2009.

At its height, the company and its subsidiary collectively owned and operated a chain of 55 "off-price" retail stores in 16 states; the company employed approximately 3,800 full and part-time workers. Each SYMS and Filene's Basement store offered a broad range of merchandise from nationally recognized designer or brand-name labels for men, women, and children.

On November 2, 2011, SYMS and Filene's Basement collectively filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. All SYMS and Filene's Basement stores were closed at the end of December 2011.

In 1959, after a dispute with his brother over the clothing store they had inherited from their father, then Seymour Merns left to open a rival men's clothing store on Cortlandt Street in New York City's Financial District. The store, which was initially named Sy Merns, competed directly with his family's original store on Vesey Street. However, he was forced to shorten the store's name to SYMS after legal action was taken against him by his brother. Merns later had his name legally changed to Sy Syms to match the store.

The company slowly expanded during the 1960s and 1970s. The company aired its first television commercial in 1974. In the commercial, SYMS debuted the company's slogan, "An educated consumer is our best customer." The slogan was used by SYMS until its close in 2011.

By 1983, Syms had taken the company public with an initial public offering, netting himself about $25 million in the process, and expanded the chain to include eleven retail locations. The company continued to expand throughout the 1980s and 90s, at its height peaking at forty-eight locations. In 1998, Sy's daughter Marcy Syms was named chief executive officer, though Sy remained as chairman of the board and continued to come to work every day.