UPDATE: Filene's Basement at South Shore Plaza Closing by Year's End

UPDATE: The Associated Press reported on Nov. 2 that Syms Corp., the company the owns Filene's Basement, will enter bankruptcy and more than likely close all of its remaining stores.

The company owns and operates 46 stores, primarily in the Eastern U.S. under the Syms and Filene's Basement names, the AP reports.

"CEO Marcy Syms said in statement that increased competition from department stores that are offering the same brands as its stores at similar discounts and an increase in the number of private label discounters weighed on the companies. She also cited fewer opportunities to buy brand name labels due to tighter inventory management and the economic downturn," according to the Associated Press.

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The in Braintree at the will be closed by the end of the year, part of a bankruptcy agreement that the company reached in 2009.

Representatives from Simon Property Group and Filene's confirmed the upcoming closing on Tuesday with Braintree Patch, following a report in the Boston Globe. Filene's has begun to wind-down its operations in Braintree and also in three other towns slated for closure – Saugus, Peabody and Watertown – according to a statement by the company.

"The four Filene’s Basement stores located in Simon Malls in Massachusetts were earmarked to close during the bankruptcy two and a half years ago," the statement said. "An agreement was reached with Simon Malls to keep the stores open until December, 2011 and we are in the process of fulfilling that agreement."

Syms, a New Jersey discounter, bought Filene's Basement out of bankruptcy in June 2009, after 11 of its stores had been shut down. The four Massachusetts closures will leave 22 remaining locations, including retail shops in Norwood, Back Bay and Newton, and from Connecticut out to Ohio and down to Florida.

Ron Hanson, Regional Senior Vice President at Simon Property, which owns the Plaza, said in a statement that the company is in constant contact with its retailers.

"As always, when a retailer announces their intention to close stores in our New England properties as Filene's Basement has at South Shore Plaza, Square One Mall, Northshore Mall and Arsenal Mall, we work to replace that retailer with a tenant that will add to our contemporary retailer mix," Hanson said. "We look forward to sharing new store announcements when leases are finalized."