Say goodbye to these bargains: Syms Corporation, including its subsidiary Filene's Basement, have filed for bankruptcy, and plan to close all 46 of their stores. Syms acquired Filene's Basement out of bankruptcy protection in the spring of 2009 for $62.4 million, but struggled to make the chain profitable again. “Blame the economy, blame the world. I wouldn’t call it expected, but I wouldn’t call it surprising,“ St. John’s University business professor Anthony Michael Sabino told the Post.
The two massive discount retailer stores employ about 2,450 people mostly in the Eastern U.S. Syms Corp was founded by Sy Syms in 1959, while Filene’s Basement goes back to 1909 and founder William Filene. This will also mean the end of Filene’s Basement “Running of the Brides” event, where hundreds of frenzied brides-to-be rummage through racks of wedding dresses at discount prices.
These closings seem indicative of another trend sweeping through NYC: according to a retail survey by the Center for an Urban Future, chain stores are not spreading as much, or even decreasing, as economic woes catch up with the city. They found that there are fewer chain stores in Manhattan than there were one year ago, and had a 2 percent decrease altogether. For the record: Dunkin’ Donuts still has the most stores in the city with 466.
