High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, is a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Buxbaum Group. The oldest off- price retailer in the United States, Filene's Basement focuses on high-end goods and is known for its distinctive, low-technology automatic markdown system. As of late 2006, the company operated stores in metropolitan areas of eight U.S. states and Washington, D.C. and uses a 470,000-square-foot (44,000 m2) distribution center in Auburn, Massachusetts. The store's name is derived from the subterranean location of its flagship store, in the basement of the former Filene's department store at Downtown Crossing in Boston, Massachusetts. The flagship Downtown Crossing store closed in September 2007 while the building above it underwent construction and is set to reopen following the conclusion of the construction.