Filene's was an American department store trade-name, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts; it operated throughout New England and in New York. It was owned by Federated Department Stores from 1929 until 1988, at which time it was acquired by The May Department Stores Company. During 2005, Federated Department Stores bought May Department Stores, which resulted in Federated reacquiring Filene's. During September 2006, Federated retired the Filene's brand and converted the majority of its stores to Macy's over the course of 2006-07.
Video Filene's
History
Early years
The precursor of the main company was a store initiated during 1881 by William Filene. William Filene was a German Jewish immigrant from Posen, Prussia, who immigrated to Boston during 1848.
Although William Filene is credited with creating Filene's, it was his sons, Edward Filene and Abraham Lincoln Filene, who expanded the business greatly. Edward and Lincoln were two of the best known businessmen in America and were responsible for converting their father's clothing store into one of the largest department stores in the country. The two sons assumed management of the store during 1891 and inherited the store upon their father's death during 1901; by that the company was known as William Filene's Sons & Company.
During 1908 Edward Filene opened the automatic bargain annex or Filene's Basement as a way to sell excess merchandise from the upstairs department store. He also developed an automatic mark-down schedule to reduce the price of merchandise, used thereafter for decades. Edward's influence gave Filene's an early reputation as a customer oriented store with slogans like "money back if not satisfied."
A new main store, Filene's Department Store, was completed during 1912 in Boston on the corner of Washington and Summer streets, by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham as his last major project. By 1929 Filene's expanded the main building, converting the block around Washington, Summer, Hawley and Franklin streets into one department store. Also during 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 beyond New England with the country growing and adapting to new shopping malls. Filene's main rival company during this period was Jordan Marsh, whose main store, like Filene's, was located in Downtown Crossing in Boston, and was also making the transition, expanding into shopping malls. During 1947, the Filene's Basement trade-name was first applied to an annual bridal gown sale. Lines extending around the store made it famous. During 1988, after the leveraged buyout of Federated Department Stores by Campeau Corp. of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the division was sold to May Department Stores Co. along with Foley's of Houston. It was then that the Filene's and Filene's Basement trade-names were disassociated. During 1992 Filene's absorbed G. Fox & Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, and Steiger's during 1994, two other divisions of May Company. During the 1990s there was a doubling of the Filene's organization as May invested in new stores and variegated Filene's price and product assortments. During 2002 Filene's assumed operational control of the Kaufmann's stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and western New York state.
Closing
On 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. The store's website was largely consolidated into macys.com during spring 2006. On September 9, 2006, the Filene's trade-name was eliminated as Federated converted Filene's to the Macy's trade-name. The old main Filene's store at Downtown Crossing was closed. Federated did not convert this store to a Macy's as there was already a Macy's across the street (the former Jordan Marsh main store, acquired by Macy's during 1996). 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. Federated never did switch Macy's, leaving an empty department store in Downtown Crossing. When Filene's closed, the Boston Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to protect the two oldest buildings that housed Filene's, the main 1912 store and a 1905 former glassware and china seller's building on the opposite corner. Two newer buildings, built during 1951 and 1973, were demolished during 2008.
Surprisingly, though many Bostonians felt a sense of loss, the public did not protest the closing, unlike that of Marshall Field's in Chicago, and Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh. Boston had already lost many local companies to larger companies in the region, especially New York City, including The New York Times's acquisition of the Boston Globe and the closing of the Bank of Boston and Fleet Bank. The Boston Landmarks Commission only protected the façade of each buildings, allowing developers to rip out the building's interior, including the original paneling installed during 1912. When the project ran out of money, the buildings were left completely gutted.
The former main Boston store is now home to Irish retailer Primark's first US location, Havas Media, Arnold Worldwide, and Oath Inc. .
Maps Filene's
Filene's Basement
By the direction of company president Edward Filene, Filene's opened its famous "Automatic Bargain Basement" during 1909, which became a much-visited tourist attraction. The concept of the bargain basement was not new (Marshall Field's created the first during 1879), but Filene's basement was well lit and decorated ostentatiously. 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 during 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. Filene's Basement was separately owned and operated by Retail Ventures, Inc. until 2009 when it was sold to Buxbaum Group, a liquidation company. The Filene's Basement stores were not affected by the Filene's/Macy's merger. However, during 2007, the original Filene's Basement location was closed while the old Filene's building was being gutted and rebuilt. At the time of the closing, the store was expected to relocate back into its basement space during 2010; however, the Filene's Basement company began its third Chapter 11 bankruptcy during November 2011, liquidating and closing permanently all of its stores during December 2011.
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).
- Filene's: Boston's Great Specialty Store. Arcadia Publishing. 2012. ISBN 978-0-7385-9158-2.
External links
- Official Filene's website (Archive)
- Boston Public Library. Filene's Marketing Archives
Source of article : Wikipedia
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