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A Dying Icon: Filene's Basement's Final Black Friday

BOSTON (CBS) - For bargain hunters in Boston, Black Friday was part of a long goodbye to a retail icon.

This Black Friday and holiday season will be the last for Filene's Basement. The going out of business sale is underway. The company is closing all 21 remaining stores at the start of 2012.

Filene's Basement, which has been around for about 100 years, became so popular, the Downtown Crossing location, which closed in 2007, was once reported to be the second most visited tourist attraction in Boston.

Shoppers could go there and dig through racks and bins to find terrific deals.

WBZ-TV's Sera Congi reports

The Basement expanded to become a chain and in the end outlived Filene's.

The crazy and popular Running of the Brides event still draws hundreds from around the country.

But ultimately competition is forcing the basement out of the business.

The basement has filed for bankruptcy three times in the last decade.

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