Dive Brief:
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Filene’s Basement, the off-price chain that was born of the bargain basement of Boston’s eminent department store Filene’s, is rising from the ashes of its bankruptcy four years ago.
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The company, now based in New York and owned by real estate firm Trinity Place Holdings, which has controlled the brand since 2012, next week will re-launch Filene’s Basement as an online-only venture.
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The discount chain had expanded rapidly but faltered in the face of established competition from T.J. Maxx, Marshall’s, and Nordstrom Rack.
Dive Insight:
Filene’s Basement was a much-loved institution in its day — brides-to-be would flock and elbow each other for its massive “Running of the Brides,” event, for examle, where a designer gown could be had for a pittance. But when the basement of Filene’s department store became a national chain of off-price stores, it stumbled in the face of competition from more established stores.
Like Loehmann’s, which went bankrupt and rose up again as an online-only enterprise last year, Filene’s Basement is now trying again as a web-only retailer. But now it faces competition from not just off-price stores—and more of them—and general merchandise retailers like Target that have also boosted their website offerings, but also flash-sales sites, and increasing competition from Amazon in apparel.
Filene’s Basement is attempting to get ahead of all that by, it says, sharpening its attention to shoppers through targeted questions about their preferences and good descriptions of merchandise.
The new approaches to the website are also attempts to capture the treasure hunt aspect of the original Filene’s Basement, something that was not really possible in its chain stores and which can be difficult to capture online.
‘It’s not going to exactly replicate flipping through the racks and the piles of clothing at Filene’s Basement…but the idea is you can come into the site, have a look around and be surprised,” Andrew Clark, Filene’s Basement’s director of consumer experience, told the Washington Post.
But if the retailer offers too many lower-quality goods with inflated “compare to” prices, it risks disappointing customers, especially those loyal ones who expect great deals on higher quality upscale clothing.
