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 Exterior of the formerFilene's Department Store flagship store inDowntown Crossing | |
| Formerly | William Filene & Sons Co. |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department stores |
| Founded | 1881; 144 years ago (1881) inBoston,Massachusetts, United States |
| Founder | William Filene |
| Defunct | September 9, 2006; 19 years ago (2006-09-09) |
| Fate | Acquisition byFederated Department Stores |
| Successor | Macy's |
| Headquarters | Filene's Department Store, Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
Number of locations | 47 (2005) |
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Filene's[a] was an Americandepartment store chain founded in 1881 by William Filene. The historicFilene's Department Store in theDowntown Crossing district ofBoston,Massachusetts housed the flagship store and headquarters, while branch stores operated throughoutNew England andNew York. Filene's was a founding member of theFederated Department Stores holding company in 1929. It was acquired byThe May Department Stores Company in 1988, and expanded with the mergers ofG. Fox & Co. in 1992 andSteiger's in 1994. Filene's andKaufmann's were merged into a single division in 2002, although they maintained their individual brands.
May wasacquired by Federated in 2005, which dissolved Filene's and converted stores toMacy's in 2006. The former flagship store was divested after Federated retained the adjacent, existing Macy's that was converted fromJordan Marsh in 1996, however, the building was designated aBoston Landmark in 2006. As of 2025[update], current tenants include advertising agenciesArnold Worldwide andHavas Media, andfast fashion retailerPrimark.
Filene's Basement was established in the basement of the Filene's Department Store in 1908, and evolved into a distinctoff-price store chain. It wasspun-off by Federated in 1988, and experienced several ownership changes before filing for bankruptcy and liquidating in 2011.
The precursor of the main company was a store opened in 1881 by William Filene. Filene was a German Jewish immigrant from Posen,Prussia (nowPoznań inPoland). He immigrated toBoston in 1848. Although William Filene is credited with creating Filene's, it was his sons,Edward Filene andAbraham Lincoln Filene, who expanded the business greatly.[1] 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 in 1891 and inherited the store upon their father's death in 1901; by that the company was known as William Filene's Sons & Company.[1]
In 1908, Edward Filene openedthe automatic bargain annex orFilene's Basement as a way to sell excess merchandise from the upstairs department store.[2] 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 in 1912 in Boston on the corner of Washington andSummer streets, by Chicago architectDaniel 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.[1]
Filene's is also a founding member of theInternational Association of department stores in 1928, which is still active as of today.
Also during 1929, Filene's joinedAbraham & Straus andLazarus as the founding members ofFederated Department Stores. From the 1930s through 1990s Filene's continued expanding beyondNew England with the country growing and adapting to newshopping malls. Filene's main rival company during this period wasJordan Marsh, whose main store, like Filene's, was located inDowntown Crossing in Boston, and was also making the transition, expanding into shopping malls. In 1947, the Filene's Basement trade-name was first applied to an annualbridal gown sale. Lines extending around the store made it famous.
In 1988, after the leveraged buyout ofFederated Department Stores byCampeau Corp. ofToronto, Ontario, Canada, the division was sold toMay Department Stores Co. along withFoley's ofHouston. It was then that the Filene's andFilene's Basement trade-names were disassociated. In 1992, Filene's absorbedG. Fox & Co. ofHartford, Connecticut,[3] and Steiger's in 1994, two other divisions ofMay 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. In 2002 Filene's assumed operational control of theKaufmann's stores inOhio,Pennsylvania,West Virginia, and westernNew York state.
Speculated since the early 2000s,[4] Federated announced its planned acquisition of May in February 2005.[5] The likelihood that the May nameplates would be replaced by the Federated-ownedMacy's was acknowledged, citing the "considerable success in re-branding [Federated's] regional stores as Macy's" and that "operating regional stores primarily under one brand means [they] can advertise nationally, unlike regional retailers, which is more cost-effective;" the changes were unlikely to occur before 2006.[6] Indeed, the company-wide conversion to Macy's was confirmed in July,[7] and the merger was completed in August.[8]
Federated continued to divest "duplicate" properties in shopping malls where Filene's and Macy's were both present; prior to consolidation, Filene's operated 47 locations across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.[7][9] In regards to Downtown Crossing, however, the company remained uncertain whether the Filene's Department Store or the neighboring former Jordan Marsh flagship store (that became Macy's in the mid-1990s) would be retained.[8] Then-Boston MayorThomas Menino expressed his preference for "marrying Macy's to the Filene's building."[10] Ultimately, the existing Macy's location was left intact and the Filene's store was closed in 2006.[11]
The last remaining Filene's stores closed on September 9, 2006, with the conversion of the May-owned nameplates, Macy's had become a national retailer with over 800 stores.[12] Upon receiving approval from shareholders that Federated itself be renamedMacy's, Inc. in 2007, then-CEO Terry Lundgren admitted that business was struggling from "[having thrown] a lot of change on the May company stores very quickly."[13]
When Filene's closed, theBoston 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.[14] Two newer buildings, built in 1951 and 1973, were demolished in 2008.
Surprisingly, though many Bostonians felt a sense of loss, the public did not protest the closing, unlike that ofMarshall Field's inChicago, andKaufmann's inPittsburgh. Boston had already lost many local companies to larger companies in the region, especiallyNew York City, includingThe New York Times's acquisition of theBoston Globe and the subsumption of theBank of Boston andFleet Bank intoBank of America.[10] The Boston Landmarks Commission only protected the façade of each building, allowing developers to rip out the buildings' interiors, including the original paneling installed in the main store. When the project ran out of money, the buildings were left completely gutted.
In mid-2014, advertising and public relations companyHavas opened offices for several of its divisions (including advertising agencyArnold Worldwide and media planning divisionHavas Media) in the former Filene's Department Store.[15] Earlier that year, Irishfast fashion retailerPrimark announced that they would open their first location in the United States in the since-renamed Burnham Building.[11] The four-level, 77,000 sq ft (7,200 m2) flagship store opened in September 2015,[16] a mural inspired by the Filene's origin of the building was installed on the second floor.[17]
By the direction of company presidentEdward Filene, Filene's opened its famous "Automatic Bargain Basement" in 1909, which became a much-visited tourist attraction. The concept of thebargain basement was not new (Marshall Field's created the first in 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.[18]
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, in 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 in 2010; however, the Filene's Basement company began its third Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2011, liquidating and permanently closing all of its stores in December 2011.
