Wikipedia:

Filene's

'
Image:Filenes logo.gif
Fate Renamed Macy's
Successor Macy's
Founded 1881
Defunct 2006
Location Boston, Massachusetts
Industry Retail
Products Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Parent Formerly May Department Stores
Subsidiary None

Filene's was a Boston-based chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores. It operated throughout New England and in New York.

History

Filene's was founded in Boston in 1881 as William Filene's Sons Co. Under the direction of company president Edward Filene, it opened its famous "Automatic Bargain Basement" in 1909, which became a heavily visited tourist attraction. The concept of the bargain basement was not new (Marshall Field's opened the first in 1879), but Filene's basement was well lit and ostentatiously decorated. The basement had its own staff which bought surplus, factory clearances, overstock, or closeout merchandise - Filene boasted that he had once sold more than 7,000 pairs of woolen underwear in two July days. Goods were marked down according to an automatic schedule; an item that had been on sale for 12 days was marked down by 25 percent, after 18 days by 50 percent, after 24 days by 75 percent, and after 30 days it was given away. Ninety percent of goods sold in the basement were purchased within the first 12 days of sale.[1]

Filene's was one of the founding members of the Federated Department Stores, Inc. organization in 1929. It historically catered to the "carriage trade." In 1988, after the leveraged buy-out of Federated by Campeau Corp. of Toronto, Canada, the division was sold to May Department Stores Co. along with Foley's of Houston. It was at this time that Filene's and the equally famous Filene's Basement were disassociated. To this day, Filene's Basement is separately owned and operated by Retail Ventures, Inc.

In 1992 Filene's absorbed G. Fox & Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, another division of May Company. The 1990s saw a doubling of the Filene's organization as May invested in new stores and broadened Filene's price and product assortments. In 2002 it assumed operational control of the Kaufmann's stores in western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Effective August 30, 2005, Federated Department Stores completed its previously announced acquisition of May Department Stores, thus reuniting Federated and Filene's. On February 1, 2006 the Filene's/Kaufmann's organization was dissolved and the management of its stores was assumed by Macy's East and the new Macy's Midwest. The store's website was largely consolidated into macys.com during the spring of 2006. On September 9, 2006, the Filene's name and brand was completely phased out as Federated converted Filene's to the Macy's masthead. The landmark flagship Filene's department store at Downtown Crossing closed in Spring 2006 (Federated did not convert this store to a Macy's, as there was already a Macy's store across the street). It was announced that the store would be sold to Vornado Realty Trust and restored and redeveloped as office and retail space.

The store's Downtown Crossing location was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Former Filene's Locations

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This section has been tagged since September 2007.

Connecticut

Massachusetts

Maine

  • Bangor - Bangor Mall (opened 1998, converted to Macy's 9/2006)  square feet ( m²)
  • Portland MSA/South Portland - The Maine Mall (2 locations) (opened 1983, men's store opened 1995, both locations closed 3/2006) main store  square feet ( m²)

New Hampshire

New York

Rhode Island

Vermont

  • Burlington - Burlington Town Center (opened 1999, converted to Macy's 9/2006)  sq ft ( m²).

Previously Closed Locations

appx.130,000 s.f. Mall converted to Worcester Common Outlets mall in 1994. Entire mall demolished 2006-2007

References

  1. ^ Jacobs, Meg (2004). Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 
Store conversions to Macy's
2006: Famous-Barr | Filene's | Foley's | Hecht's | The Jones Store | Kaufmann's | L. S. Ayres | Marshall Field's | Meier & Frank | Robinsons-May | Strawbridge's
2005: The Bon Marché | Burdines | Goldsmith's | Lazarus | Rich's    2001: Liberty House | Stern's
1996: The Broadway | Bullock's | Emporium-Capwell | The Emporium | Jordan Marsh | Weinstock's
1995: Abraham & Straus    1986: Bamberger's | Davison's    1949: John Taylor Dry Goods Co.    1947: O'Connor, Moffat & Co.
Store Conversions to Filene's
1994: Steiger's    1993: G. Fox & Co.    
See also: Filene's Basement (associated until 1988) | Kaufmann's (part of division from 2002)

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