Filene's Basement sells to Men's Warehouse

"Equally important, the agreement is expected to preserve jobs for the vast majority of Filene's 1,600-plus employees, while maintaining relationships with many of the vendors that historically sold to the chain and preventing vacancies in at least 17 of the retail properties where the chain was an anchor or sub-anchor tenant."

Men's Warehouse beat out two other bidders, and the sale price surpassed the expectations of Filene's Basement's chief restructuring officer Alan Cohen. He called the auction a "great result", noting that the chain was expected to sell for just $40 million.

Several stores are not included in the sales and are expected to close soon. Those locations are in Baltimore, MD; Hyannis, MA.; Peabody, MA; Saugus, MA.; Elizabeth, NJ; and Paramus, NJ.

This sale represents the first time in a long time that Filene's Basement will be operated by a company with strong management and a stable balance sheet. If Men's Warehouse can deploy those to build the brand into the icon that it once was, the $67 million purchase price could look like the biggest bargain of the past few years.