Filene's

William Filene's Sons Co.

Fate	Merged into Macy's
Successor	Macy's
Founded	1881
Defunct	2006
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Parent	Federated Department Stores (1929-1988,2005-2006) The May Department Stores Company (1988-2005)
Website	None

Filene's was an iconic Boston-based department store owned by Federated Department Stores (1929-1988; 2005-2006), and May Department Stores (1988-2005). It operated throughout New England and in New York.

History

Early years

Filene’s was founded in 1881 by William Filene under the name Filene’s sons and Co. William Filene was a German Jewish immigrant from Posen, Prussia, who immigrated to Boston in 1848. By 1881 Filene had built up many small retail shops around Boston creating his own department store.

Shoppers hurry around Filene's in Boston. Jordan Marsh can be seen in the forefront with the large Filene's building at center

Although William Filene is credited with creating Filene’s, it was his sons, Edward and Lincoln who took the store into greatness.^[1] Edward and Lincoln were two of the most well known businessmen in America and were responsible for turning their father’s clothing store into one of the largest department stores in the country. The two sons assumed management of the store in 1891 and inherited the store upon their father’s death in 1901. ^[1] In 1908 Edward Filene opened the automatic bargin annex or Filene's Basement as a way to sell excess merchandise from the upstairs department store. ^[2]

Filene's Department Store, the former headquarters and flagship store in Downtown Crossing, Boston.

He also developed an automatic mark-down schedule to mark down merchandise still used today. Edward's influence gave Filene’s an early reputation as a customer oriented store with slogans like “money back if not satisfied.”

A new flagship store, Filene's Department Store, was completed in 1912 on the Corner of Washington and Summer Streets by legendary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham as his last major project. By 1929 Filene’s expanded the flagship building, converting the whole block around Washington, Summer, Hawley and Franklin streets into one department store.^[1] Also in 1929 Filene’s joined Abraham & Straus and Lazarus as the founding members of Federated Department Stores.

Suburban expansion

From the 1930s through 1990s Filene’s continued expanding around New England and the country growing and adapting to the new shopping malls anchoring most mall in Massachusetts. However Filene’s was kept in an arms length by rival Jordan Marsh who subsided across Summer street in Boston and was also making the transition to shopping malls. In 1947 Filene’s basement started its annual one-day bridal gown sale. Lines extending around the store made it nationally famous. 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. 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.

Filene's ad on back of Red Sox ticket

Closing

Effective August 30, 2005, Federated Department Stores completed its previously announced acquisition of May Department Stores, thus reuniting Federated and Filene's. On that day 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. Federated did not convert this store to a Macy's as there was already a Macy's store across the street (the former Jordan Marsh flagship store). But Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino preferred "marrying Macy's to the Filene's building" because of its importance to Downtown Crossing and to Boston. ^[3] Federated never did switch Macy's leaving an empty department store in the heart of Downtown Crossing. When Filene's did close, the Boston Landmark Commission unanimously voted to protect two of the historic buildings that housed Filene's in Boston. The two oldest buildings were protected including the main 1912 Filene's store building and a 1905 former glassware and china seller's building on the opposite corner.^[4] The two newer buildings, built in 1951 and 1973 were not protected and demolished in 2008.

Boston's own variation of the saying meet me under the clock with Filene's clock on Wasington street

Surprisingly, the Boston public did not protest the closing like the protests of Marshall Field's in Chicago and Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh, but the closing represented another example of the closing of long-time institutions in Boston. Largely due to the newer Northeast Megalopolis, Boston has lost many local companies to larger companies in the Megalopolitan region, especially New York. Examples include: The New York Times acquisition of The Boston Globe and the closing of banks such as Bank of Boston and Fleet Bank. In 1996, the famous Boston retailer Jordan Marsh was acquired by Macy’s; and then 10 years later so was Filene’s. Though not everyone in Boston cares for Boston traditions, many feel a sense of loss and emptiness.^[3] Although the Filene’s Building in Boston is protected by the Landmark Commission, it only protected the facade of the buildings. This allowed the developers of the site to rip out the building's interior, including the original paneling and beauty first seen in 1912. When the project ran out of money, the buildings were left completely gutted. Recent pictures of Filene's have been used constantly throughout the Boston media to represent the country's economic struggles.

The Basement

Under the direction of company president Edward Filene, Filene's 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.^[5] Filene's Basement was separately owned and operated by Retail Ventures, Inc. until 2009 when it was sold to Buxbaum Group, a liquidaton company. The Filene's Basement stores were not affected by the Filene's-Macy's merger, since the "Basement" had long been under totally separate ownership from Filene's. However, in 2007, the flagship Filene's Basement location was closed while the old Filene's building was rebuilt. The store was expected to move back into its legendary basement space in 2010; however, the company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of May 2009 and its future is uncertain.

See also

• Downtown Crossing
• Jordan Marsh
• List of defunct department stores of the United States

References

• Berkley, George E. (1998). The Filene's. International Pocket Library (Branden).