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Filene's Basement wants to turn "bargain alley" into "fashion drive."
![12342-3.jpg](http://vmsd.com/sites/vmsd.com/files/imagecache/Full_gallery/editorial/12342-3.jpg "A vintage photo of a shopper riding a wooden escalator in the old Filene's store flanks its modern escalator. The nudge in the ribs to shoppers is, "this is the way it used to be."")
![12342-4.jpg](http://vmsd.com/sites/vmsd.com/files/imagecache/Full_gallery/editorial/12342-4.jpg "A custom form covered with dupioni silk, from Apogee USA, stands on a platform called "the vault" in the custom handbags department. ("The vault" is a reference to the original Boston store.)")
![12342-5.jpg](http://vmsd.com/sites/vmsd.com/files/imagecache/Full_gallery/editorial/12342-5.jpg "The Curvatura wave ceiling treatment hovers over the young men's department, with aisle presentations – or "speedbumps" – causing shoppers to slow up.")
![12342-6.jpg](http://vmsd.com/sites/vmsd.com/files/imagecache/Full_gallery/editorial/12342-6.jpg "Filene's Basement turned what was a "plain vanilla" consumer electronics superstore in Tysons Corner, Va., into one of its upscale new concepts – a 43,000-square-foot, two-story space that pivots stylishly around a huge escalator well.")
Filene’s practically invented the bargain basement. In 1909, owner William Filene gave the basement of his Boston store to his son, Edward, to run. Edward developed the “automatic markdown system,” periodically changing the price tag on each item as it hit the selling floor. The basement became one of the most-visited attractions in Boston, rivaling Fenway Park, Faneuil Hall and the Cheers bar.
Filene’s Basement survives as a retail name, though it split from parent Filene’s Department Store in 1988. And it’s still associated with deep discounts and madcap giveaways (such as its annual Running of the Brides event).
But owner Retail Ventures Inc. (Columbus, Ohio), which bought Filene’s Basement in 2000, wants to cast its eyes upwards. At its newest store, in Tysons Corner, Va., the primary similarity to the old “bargain alley” is aesthetic. Designers replicated the red brick and subway light fixtures of old Boston to create mood and nostalgia. Otherwise, there’s very little about this two-story, 43,000-square-foot store in a suburban lifestyle center to harken back to the days of pipe racks and dump bins.
“We’ve always carried the highest-end brands,” says Mark Luther, the retailer’s visual merchandising vp, “and now we’re building our stores to showcase them.”
The space, designed by Fitzpatrick International Group (Southampton, N.Y.), is bright, light and open. A former consumer electronics warehouse store, it had no interior walls, high ceilings and a plain-vanilla interior. The most problematic architectural element, however, was a massive central elevator well – 30 feet high, 12 feet wide – that had been used for hauling electronics merchandise between floors. As it did 100 years ago with last year’s unsold fashions, Filene’s Basement turned dross into gold. It turned the escalator well into a large, open central atrium with some fun visual elements – projection screens, photo murals.
“We took a 1910 photograph of a shopper riding a wooden escalator in our original building,” says Luther, “and created a mural for one of the sides of the atrium. Other vintage photos wrap the rest of the well.” One of them is of a Filene’s elevator operator circa 1910 with a little cap on her head. The nudge in the ribs to shoppers is, “this is the way it used to be.”
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The basement looks like a brand new Super Mall the lights and the color of the walls made it look more wider and the structural design is perfect for the products to be arrange and how the products are displayed its definitely a nice place to visit and buy. People would never notice that it once a basement. Murfreesboro Pediatric Dentist