Filene's Basement

And then promptly kill off the Downtown Crossing store forever so it can rent it to somebody more lucrative, the Herald reports. Vornado teamed up with Syms on what is now apparently the winning bid for the frail Filene's Basement.

The Globe has a big story, Last markdown for Filene's Basement.

The story itself is not quite a port-mortem, but the reader comments are a wake for the original Downtown Crossing location that made Filene's Basement a Boston institution.

Retail Ventures [url=http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/04/28/bankruptcy_filing_edging_closer_for_filenes_basement/]paid $1,675,000 to liquidator Buxbaum Holdings[/url] to get rid of Filene's Basement. A bankruptcy filing is likely within the next few days.

Liquidator buys what's left of the chain, the Herald reports.

The current owner of Filene's Basement has listed it as a "discontinued operation" and [url=http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/04/filenes_basemen_6.html]put it up for sale[/url]. If nobody buys it after 30 days, will they give it to charity?

And Chris Faraone is fairly grumpy about it:

... When it became too painful to proceed I stepped across Boylston Street for the afterparty at McGreevy's, where I met a gaggle of nice ladies that failed to find a dress. Their sentiments reflected mine: boorish bargain pillaging is no way to buy an outfit that will be photographed and placed on your mantle until the divorce. ...

Boston Police report arresting a Melrose man on charges he got on the down escalator at the Boylston Street Filene's Basement yesterday afternoon, then took off his pants and took a leak:

It should be noted that the store was full of customers, some of whom were children when the suspect engaged in this behavior.

But the escalator was so slow that by the time he got to the bottom, they were adults?

Leonard J. Daigneault, 51, of Melrose was charged with open and gross lewdness.

Innocent, etc.

The Boston Business Journal reports, says the store will even still be in the basement in the new One Franklin.

Will Ng escapes alive from the annual event, now held at the Hynes. He was there with his fiancee, Cindy:

... This was a crazy event that I hope I will never have to endure again. However, I do have some advice for women who plan to take on this challenge. ...

Lolita Parker Jr. takes photos as Filene's Basement gets ready to close in Downtown Crossing.

There's just something so soothing about BBC reporters, even when covering screaming brides and bridesmaids.

Oh, no you don't! Amy reads that Filene's Basement might end its automatic markdowns when if it returns to Downtown Crossing and she applies some retail therapy to the Basement's posterior:

... I walk by the Filene's Basement on Boylston Street on a daily basis and I never go in. To me, Filene's Basement isn't plasma-screen TVs, mannequins and doormen who aren't homeless guys looking for T fare. Filene's Basement means waist-high bins full of coal with the rare diamond somewhere inside. Filene's Basement is a bunch of bargain-hungry bitches burrowing through clothes like starving animals tear through prey. Filene's Basement is the paper signs with the same handwriting on each. Filene's Basement is the torture of bearing your cellulite to all the other women in the dressing room in the hopes of looking great in that bargain-basement find you tore out a chunk of some bitch's hair for. ...

The Boston Business Journal quotes a BRA spokesman as saying the store will return to its Downtown Crossing location in 2009 and will rent two stories in the new Filene's building - in addition to the actual basement.

Say it isn't so:

Flagship Filene's Basement to shut for makeover: News sends shudders through downtown

The original Filene's Basement store, where the concept of discounting was invented, will close for up to two years while its building is renovated, creating a void in the heart of Boston's downtown shopping district.

Sure makes a mockery of the big "WE ARE NOT CLOSING!" signs they've put up all over the entrances.

Bret doesn't get the deal with doormen at the Filene's Basement on Boylston Street:

... Is this really necessary? Do people really feel more posh when they have the door opened up for them? Was this done in a bid to differentiate themselves from their competition across the street - Marshalls? ...

Jolie and her camera somehow survive the Filene's Basement bridal sale:

... MY LORD! An uglier display of humanity I have never seen. The meanest, nastiest, cattiest side of every single woman in that warehouse was on display. And would that unfortunate personality traits were the only vile thing on display – you cannot imagine the horror show that was the choice undergarments these ladies selected. ...