RIP, Filene's Boston

Coutureallure

Coutureallure

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RIP, Filene\'s Boston

There is a large article in this morning's Boston Globe about the swallowing of Filene's by Macy's. All Filene's stores will adopt the Macy's name by next year, and most of the Filene's stores in major malls that include a Macy's will be closing. This includes the flagship downtown store. It's very sad.

I will be doing a write-up for the label resource from the article as it contains some very valuable information that we should have. I am missing labels to go with the article, however. Since I live in Boston, I find vintage Filene's labels quite frequently, but don't have anything right now, and there are no photos in my archives. Does anyone have any Filene's label images they can post?

Jody
 
You have got to be kidding me!!

I wrote the Macy's entry and can add this to it as well.

Are they spinning it off from May Dept stores to sell it?

I will look and see if I have any Filene's. Jody, I know Filene's basement is a different company sort of? What of them?
 
I read that Filene's Basement is not affected by this buyout. Thank God. I grew up in Boston and remember spending many happy hours down there. The original Basement is a real basement on the same level with the subway. I bought my wedding gown there for $11.
 
Yes, I still have the same stack heeled sandals that I bought in 1996 from Filene's basement and they are still going strong.

The wedding dress sale was indeed reknowned. A friend of ours got her wedding dress there for very short money. I remember ladies going in bodysuits under their clothes and just trying things on in the aisles, and even flying in.
 
Too bad. My dad has very fond memories of going to Filene's back in the 1950s with my mom and another couple. He still laughs when he recalls the shock on the guy's face as some woman just tried on a dress right in the middle of the store.
 
Maybe i should ask DH's aunt to see what she might have. I am sure she has a million pairs of shoes from Filene's...(she keeps every pair)
 
Even I have been in Filene's in Boston, I bought several pairs of shoes, seriously comfortable. I think the brand name is Caresse and strangely enough, I have only ever seen that brand in Macy's I think nd assumed it was their own label.

So perhaps Macy's have been behind the scenes at Filenes for a while.
 
I have been seriously remiss in getting back to this posting.

Filene's Basement will not be affected. They became a separate company in 1991.

Ferderated Stores, which owns Macy's and Bloomingdales bought out May Co., which owned Filene's and Lord & Taylor. The sale was approved by May Co. stockholders in July. Federated hopes to use their buying power now to better compete with Target and the larger Sears/K-Mart conglomerate.

Federated has not decided if they will stay in the current Macy's store or move to the current Filene's building. It hardly matters, as the stores are right across the street from each other. Home Depot, Kohl's, and Jordan's Furniture have all expressed interest in the space once it becomes available.

Federated will replace all of May's regional names, including Hecht's, Kaufmann's, Strawbridges, and Filene's with the Macy's name by Fall 2006.

I find this so sad, as the Filene's buyers really did such a great job of catering to the New England customer. In my opinion, they always had superior merchandise to Macy's. Now that Macy's is taking over, that sense of regional differentiation will no longer exist. Even Burdine's in the South no longer feels like its old self. What's the fun of shopping in a department store while travelling if they have the same merchandise I can get in Boston?

Jody
 
I have a pair of Caress or Caressa shoes (i think it says "crosstown comfort" somwhere on them too). I bought them when CHerry & Webb went out of business in the Boston area, so maybe they were regional.

Target is in the Marshall Field's/J L Hudson conglomerate although all Hudsons are Marshall Field's now. They do not own Marshall's. That is TJX (TJ Maxx, Homegoods, AJ Wtight). I have been thinking about JL Hudson for awhile to add but have never gotten to it.

I was just thinking what a tangled web Federated has become though. I wonder what they will do at the North Shore Mall up your way Jody where there was both a Filene's and a Macy's (that Macy's having formerly been Jordan Marsh).

Oh what a web...
Macy's
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/labels.php?labelno=515&mode=search

Jordan Marsh
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/labels.php?labelno=484&mode=search

I know I have a Rikes label and will just toss that into the soup once i find it again.
 
Chris, they are closing the Filene's stores in all the malls where there are both Filene's and Macy's. I think there are 9 in all. There will be some serious real estate up for grabs and it will change the feel of the malls. I'm hoping Nordstrom or Neiman's will move in, but somehow I think the spaces are more likely to go to stores like Best Buy or TJ Maxx.
 
You should check out the TJ Maxx/Marshalls over in Bedford. The big kahuna of TJX lives in that town, so the buyers make sure they stock that location with the very best of the best stuff to impress the boss. At least they used to anyways.

I am sure it will be a Best Buy too :( But there is one already so close in Danvers and Saugus both that you would think they would think better of it. I doubt if they would put a Nordstrom's...but don't people have to go all to Rhode Island to get to one?
 
We're finally getting a Nordstrom in Natick this fall. About time! And they said they would not be putting Bloomingdales in any of the 9 locations. Boo hiss!
 
Oh really??? At the Natick Mall? I can't believe it. Well, maybe I can...they have had the Coach store and other more upscale stores.
I have only been to a Nordstrom's in metro Dallas when i was there for a few days ones on business and wanted to just see what one looked like. But i have never been to Bloomingdales.

I will admit I am not much of a mall shopper at all...so i am way behind the times on a lot of things :)
 
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