Filene's Basement was a Boston mainstay for nearly a century, welcoming tens of thousands of bargain hunters daily. The store grew to a chain of discount retailers across the eastern United States, even as economic woes shut the doors of the store's original historic location.
- Edward A. Filene in 1909 founded Filene's Basement, as its name would indicate, in the basement level of his father's Filene's Department Store in Boston. Filene opened the store to sell off excess merchandise from his father's store, though competitors initially dismissed it as "Filene's folly."
- Filene developed a progressive markdown system for Filene's Basement merchandise in which items' discounts increased the longer they went unsold, with unsold items ultimately going to charity. The format attracted crowds of bargain shoppers.
- In 1947, Filene's Basement introduced its most famous recurring sales event: a one-day bridal sale that became known as the "running of the brides." During that sale, brides-to-be flood the store to nab designer gowns discounted by hundreds or thousands of dollars, often stripping the racks bare in as little as 60 seconds.
- Filene's Basement began to branch out from its Boston location in 1978, opening stores across the eastern United States. As of November 2009, Filene's lists 24 locations, as far south as Florida and as far west as Illinois.
- Filene's Basement's original Boston location closed its doors in 2007 with plans for redevelopment that were later stymied by the economic downturn. The chain filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and as of November 2009, its new owner, discounter Syms Corp., has sought to find a new location near the original spot.
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